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MACE-PETRIE 


ELEMENTARY HISTORY 


Professor Emeritus of History in Syracuse University. Author of 
>l A School History of the United States,” “A Primary 
History,” ,l A Beginner's History,” “Method in History 
and (with George Petrie) of "American School History” 

and 

GEORGE PETRIE 

Professor of History and Dean of the Academic 
Faculty of Alabama Polytechnic Institute. 

Author (with William H. Mace) 
of “American School History” 


'*> lr 


By WILLIAM H. MACE 

w 


Illustrated by 

HOMER W. COLBY and B. F. WILLIAMSON 


Portraits by 

JACQUES REICH and P. R. AUDIBERT 


> 


1 



RAND M9NALLY & COMPANY 


Chicago 


New York 












Made in U. S. A. 


APR 26’23 

©C1A703193 
Vvo / 



THE PREFACE 


When does the child first begin the study of history? When 
he first detects the difference in meaning between a smile and 
a frown on his mother’s face, he is beginning the mental pro¬ 
cesses used in history; that is, he is beginning to infer meaning 
from signs. From this time forward, the child is engaged in 
observing man in the process of acting, and these actions 
stand to the child as signs of certain mental states. 

These sensuous images and the simple ideas gained from his 
observation enable the child to reconstruct the fairy story, 
the myth, or the legend. This observation is a universal 
process and it goes on from the cradle to the grave. It is the 
business of the teacher to stimulate it by seeing that the pupil 
carries on the testing of what he learns of men and institutions 
by comparing it with what he himself has seen. 

The teacher should use the heroic stories in this book to 
impress upon the pupil’s mind that life is a constant struggle 
against opposition and difficulties. It may be the struggle 
of man against man, party against party, army against army, 
or it may be the struggle of a man against some physical weak¬ 
ness, or perhaps against the lack of means of support. We 
can see it in the life of the great Lincoln — how he struggled 
against those twin obstacles, poverty and ignorance, and 
finally won; how Roosevelt struggled against timidity and a 
weak body, and how he conquered both, and how he won 
in his still more romantic and powerful conflict with men 
seeking their own against the public good. These conflicts 
epitomize the battle of life. 

The pupil finds his greatest interest in history in the conflict 
between right and wrong as seen in the life of men. In watch¬ 
ing the contest between two men or the conflict of two sets 
of ideas, he forms his own ideas of right and wrong, and he 


111 


IV 


The Preface 


deals out praise or blame among his characters. Hence there 
is great need of level-headed teachers, and of the study of 
truly patriotic Americans. 

To watch the struggle of great men for certain great causes 
produces a profound effect upon the character of the boy or 
girl. Hence the child should not be subject, in its immaturity, 
to the direction of inferior teachers or teachers lacking in 
patriotism. 

This book contains stories of the World War. It shows how 
this nation, loving peace and hating war, threw two million 
trained soldiers into France to help the Allies win from the 
Germans. In doing this we paid a debt due France ever 
since Lafayette fought by the side of Washington, and at the 
same time we saved our own institutions. Just as the war 
against Spain united the North and the South, so the war 
against the Germans united the two branches of the Anglo- 
Saxon race in bonds of stronger friendship. 

The World War showed that thousands of people in America 
had not awakened to the meaning of American institutions. 
The teachers of America, in dealing with the noble and self- 
sacrificing Americans, can do much to bring these people not 
only to love America’s great men and women, but to love 
America itself. In this way the teacher works for the per¬ 
petuity of American institutions. 


THE TABLE OF CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The Northmen Discover the New World 

Leif Ericson, Who Discovered Vinland.i 

Early Explorers in America 

Christopher Columbus, the First Great Man in American His¬ 
tory .2 

Ponce de Leon, Who Sought a Marvelous Land and Was Dis¬ 
appointed .15 

Cortes, Who Found the Rich City of Mexico.16 

De Soto, the Discoverer of the Mississippi.21 

The Men Who Made America Known to England and Who 
Checked the Progress of Spain 
John Cabot Also Searches for a Shorter Route to India and 

Finds the Mainland of North America.26 

Sir Francis Drake, the English “Dragon,” Who Sailed the 
Spanish Main and “Singed the King of Spain’s Beard” . . 28 

Sir Walter Raleigh, the Friend of Elizabeth, Plants a Colony in 
America to Check the Power of Spain.33 

The Man Who Planted New France in America, Explored the 
Great Lakes Region, and Founded Quebec 
Samuel de Champlain, the Father of New France 39 

What the Dutch Accomplished in the Colonization of the 
New World 

Henry Hudson, Whose Discoveries Led Dutch Traders to 
Colonize JsTew Netherland. -13 

Famous People in Early Virginia 

John Smith, the Savior of Virginia, and Pocahontas, Its Good 
Angel.48 

Some Old-England Puritans in New England 

Miles Standish, the Pilgrim Soldier, and the Story of 

“Plymouth Rock” . 55 

John Winthrop, the Founder of Boston, and First Governor of 
the Colony of Massachusetts.63 

The Men Who Planted Colonies for Many Kinds of People 

Peter Stuyvesant, the Great Dutch Governor.65 


v 











VI 


The Table of Contents 

PAGE 

William Penn, the Quaker, Who Founded the City of Brotherly 

Love..69 

James Oglethorpe, the Founder of Georgia as a Home for English 
Debtors, as a Place for Persecuted Protestants, and as a 
. Barrier against the Spaniards. 74 

Three Great Frenchmen Who Carried the Flag of France 
down the Mississippi and along the Gulf Coast 
La Salle, Who Pushed Forward the Work of Exploring the 


Mississippi Valley.79 

Iberville and Bienville Carry on La Salle’s Work and Found 
Two Cities.84 

George Washington, the First General and the First Presi¬ 
dent of the United States 

The “Father of His Country”.87 

Benjamin Franklin, Who Helped Win Our Independence by 
Winning the Hearts of Frenchmen for America 
Benjamin Franklin . ill 


Patrick Henry and Samuel Adams, Two Famous Men or 
the Revolution Who Defended America by Tongue 
and Pen 

Patrick Henry, the Orator of the Revolution.120 

Samuel Adams, the Leader of the People.127 

The Men Who Fought for American Independence with Gun 
and Sword 

Generals Greene, Morgan, and Marion, the Men Who Helped 
Win the South from the British.140 

John Paul Jones, Who Helped Win Independence by Fighting 
England on the Sea 

John Paul Jones.152 

A Frenchman Who Came over the Sea to Help Washington 
Win Independence 

Marquis de Lafayette.157 

The Men Who Crossed the Mountains, Defeated the Indians 
and British, and Made the Mississippi River the First 
Western Boundary of the United States 
Daniel Boone, the Hunter and Pioneer of Kentucky . S. .161 

John Sevier, “Nolichucky Jack”.!6y 

George Rogers Clark, the Hero of Vincennes.172 











The Table of Contents vii 

PAGE 

Development of the New Republic 

Eli Whitney, Who Invented the Cotton Gin and Changed the 

History of the South.182 

Thomas Jefferson, Who Wrote the Declaration of Independence, 

. Founded the Democratic Party, and Purchased the Louisiana 

Territory.184 

Lewis and Clark, American Explorers in the Oregon Country . 193 
Andrew Jackson, the Victor of New Orleans.199 


Francis Scott Key, Author of “The Star-Spangled Banner” . . 207 

The Men Who Made the Nation Great by Their Inventions 
and Discoveries 

Robert Fulton, the Inventor of the Steamboat.213 

Samuel F. B. Morse, Inventor of the Telegraph.220 

Cyrus West Field, Who Laid the Atlantic Cable between America 


and Europe.224 

Crawford Williamson Long, the Doctor Who First Used Ether 
in an Operation.228 

The Men Who Won Texas, the Oregon Country, and California 

Sam Houston, the Hero of San Jacinto.233 

John C. Fremont, the Pathfinder of the Rocky Mountains . 238 

The Three Greatest Statesmen of the Middle Period 


Henry Clay, the Founder of the Whig Party and the Great 


Pacificator.246 

Daniel Webster, the Defender of the Constitution . . . .251 

John C. Calhoun, the Champion of State Rights.257 

Abraham Lincoln, the Preserver of the Union 

A Poor Boy Becomes a Great Man ..263 

Jefferson Davis 

President of the Confederacy.276 

The Man Who Led the Confederate Armies 

Robert Edward Lee.285 

Other Heroes of the Civil War 

Ulysses S. Grant. 293 

“Stonewall” Jackson ..294 

Theodore Roosevelt 

The Typical American.297 

The Panama Canal 


William Crawford Gorgas, the Man Who Drove Out Yellow Fever 306 















The Table of Contents 


PACK 


Vlll 


George Washington Goethals, the Man Who Built the Panama 
Canal.309 

Woodrow Wilson 

Who Believed in Making the World Safe for Democracy . .312 

John J. Pershing 

Commander of the American Army in France.325 

Edison, Marconi, and the Wright Brothers: Men Who Made 
New Ideas Work 

Thomas A. Edison, the Greatest Inventor of Electrical Machinery 


in the World.335 

Marconi, the Inventor of Wireless Telegraphy.340 

The Wright Brothers and Their Flying Machines.342 


Women Who Were Leaders in Great Movements 

Early Advocates of Woman Suffrage.347 

Frances E. Willard, the Great Temperance Crusader; Clara 
Barton, Who Founded the Red Cross Society in America; 
and Jane Addams, the Founder of Hull House Social Settlement 


in Chicago.349 

Andrew Carnegie. 

Maker of Iron and Steel and Founder of Libraries .... 356 

Resources and Industries of Our Country 

How Farm and Factory Helped Build the Nation . . . .361 

Mines, Mining, and Manufacture .365 






A LIST OF THE MAPS 

PAGE 

The Finding of America. 28 

Early Settlements in Virginia and Maryland. 37 

The Routes Followed by Champlain. 42 

The New England Settlements. 64 

The Dutch Settlements. 65 

Routes of the French Missionaries and Traders Who Explored the 
Mississippi Valley. 80 

Scene of Washington’s Campaigns in the South. 99 

Scene of the Campaigns in the South. 142 

Expeditions to the West and the Scene of George Rogers Clark’s 
Campaign. 179 

The United States in 1803 after the Louisiana Purchase. 192 

The Scene of Jackson’s Campaigns. 205 

Scene of Houston’s Campaign. 236 

Map of the West after the War with Mexico.. 237 

The Pathways of the Early Explorers of the West. 238 

The United States in 1850. 256 

The Confederate States. 271 

Scene of War around Washington and Richmond. 290 


IX 






















I 


MACE-PETRIE 
ELEMENTARY HISTORY 

STORIES OF HEROISM 

THE NORTHMEN DISCOVER THE NEW WORLD 

LEIF ERICSON, WHO DISCOVERED VINLAND 

i. The voyages of the Northmen. The Northmen 
were a bold sea-faring people who lived in northern 
Europe hundreds of years ago. Once, when on one of 
their voyages of adventure, the boldest sailed so far to 
the west that they reached the shores of Iceland and 
Greenland, where many of them settled. Among these 
were Eric the Red and his son Leif Ericson. 

Now Leif had heard.of a land to the south of Greenland 
from some Northmen who had been driven far south 
in a great storm, and he determined to set out in search 
of it. After sailing for many days he reached the shore 
of this New World. Because of the abundance of grapes 
that the Northmen found along the shore, they named 
the new land Vinland, a country of grapes. 

Leif’s discovery caused great excitement among his 
people, and ever after he was known as Leif the' Lucky. 
After hearing his story of Vinland, some of them could 
hardly wait until winter was over, and the snow and ice 
broken up, so that they might send their ships out again. 

This time Thorvald, one of Leif’s brothers, led the 
expedition. On reaching land, as they stepped ashore, 

2 i 


i 


2 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


he exclaimed: “It is a fair region and here I should like 
to make my home.” Thorvald was killed in a battle 
with the Indians and was buried where he had wanted 
to build his home. The Northmen continued to visit 
the new land, but the Indians finally became so unfriendly 
that the Northmen went away and never came again. 

It was too bad that Leif’s discovery was not known 
to the rest .of Europe until long after Columbus had made 
his. 


SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL 

The Leading Facts, i. The Northmen, bold sailors, settled 
Iceland and Greenland. 2. Leif Ericson reached the shores 
of North America and called the country Vinland. j. The 
Northmen continued to visit the new land, but finally ceased 
to come on account of the Indians. 

Study Questions. 1. In what new countries did the North¬ 
men settle? 2. Tell the story of Leif Ericson’s voyage, j. 
What did he call the new land, and why? 

Suggested Readings. The Northmen: Glascock, Stories of 
Columbia , 7-9; Higginson, American Explorers , 3-15; Old South 
Leaflets , No. 31. 

EARLY EXPLORERS IN AMERICA 

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS, THE FIRST GREAT MAN 
IN AMERICAN HISTORY 

2. Old trade routes to Asia. More than 450 years 
ago Christopher Columbus spent his boyhood in the 
queer old Italian town of Genoa on the shore of the 
Mediterranean Sea. Even in that far-away time, the 
Mediterranean was dotted with the white sails of ships 
busy in carrying on the richest trade in the world. But 
no merchants were richer or had bolder sailors than those 
of Columbus’ own town. 


Christopher Columbus 


3 


Genoa had her own trading routes to India, China, 
and Japan. Her vessels sailed eastward and crossed the 
Black Sea to the very shores of Asia. 

There they found stores of rich 
shawls and silks and of costly 
spices and jewels, which had already 
come on the backs of horses and 
camels from the Far East. As fast 
as winds and oars could carry them, 
these merchant ships hastened 
back to Genoa where other ships 
and sailors were waiting to carry 
their goods to all parts of Europe. 

Every day the boys of Genoa, 
as they played along the wharves, 
could see the ships from different 
countries and could hear the stories 
of adventure told by.the sailors. No 
wonder Christopher found it hard 
to work at his father’s trade of 



THE BOY COLUMBUS 


combing wool; he liked to hear 
stories of the sea and to make maps Arls ’ Boslon 

and to study geography far better than he liked to comb 
wool or study arithmetic or grammar. He was eager 
to go to sea and while but a boy he made his first 
voyage. Afterward he often sailed with a kinsman, 
who was an old sea captain. These trips were full of 
danger, not only from storms, but from sea robbers 
with whom the sailors sometimes had hard fights. 

While Columbus was growing to be a man, the wise 
and noble Prince Henry of Portugal was sending his 
sailors down the unknown west coast of Africa to find a 



















with ruddy face and bright eyes, so that he soon won the 
heart and the hand of a beautiful lady, the daughter of 
one of Prince Henry’s old seamen. Columbus was in 
the midst of exciting scenes. Lisbon was full of learned 
men, and of sailors longing to go on voyages. Year after 
year new voyages were made in the hope of reaching 
India, but after many trials, the sailors of Portugal had 
explored only halfway down the African coast. 

It is said that one day while looking over his father- 
in-law’s maps, Columbus was startled by the idea of 


A SEA FIGHT BETWEEN GENOESE AND TURKS 

The Genoese were great seamen and. traders. When the Turks tried to ruin their trade 
with the Far East by destroying their routes many fierce sea fights took place 


4 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


new way to India. The Turks, by capturing Constan¬ 
tinople, had destroyed Genoa’s overland trade routes. 

The bold deeds of Henry’s sailors drew many .seamen 
to Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. Columbus went, too, 
and there was made welcome by his brother and friends. 

Columbus was now a large, fine-looking young man 

















Christopher Columbus 


5 


reaching India by sailing 
directly west. He thought 
this could be done, because 
he believed the world to be 
round, although all people, 
except the most educated, 
then thought the world flat. 
Columbus also believed 
that the world was much 
smaller than it really is. 

The best maps of that 
time located India, China, 
and Japan about where 
America is. For once, a 
mistake in geography turned 
out well. Columbus, be¬ 
lieving his route to be the 
shortest, spent several years 
in gathering proof that 
India was directly west. 
He went on long voyages 
and talked with many old 
sailors about the signs of 
land to the westward. 

Finally Columbus laid his 
plans before the new king 
of Portugal, John II. The 
king secretly sent out a ship 
to test the plan. His sailors, 
however, became frightened 
and returned before going 
very far. Columbus was 



THE HOME OF COLUMBUS, GENOA 
























































6 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

indignant at this mean trick and immediately started 
for Spain (1484), taking with him his little son, Diego. 

3. Columbus at the court of Spain. The king and 
queen of Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella, received him 
kindly; but some of their wise men did not believe that 
the world is round, and declared Columbus foolish for 



COLUMBUS SOLICITING AID FROM ISABELLA 

From, the painting by the Bohemian artist, Vaczlav Brozik, now in the 
Metropolitan Museum, New York 


thinking that countries to the eastward could be reached 
by sailing to the westward. He was not discouraged at 
first, because other wise men spoke in his favor to the 
king and queen. 

It was hard for these rulers to aid him now because a 
long and costly war had used up all of Spain’s money. 
Columbus was very poor and his clothes became thread¬ 
bare. Some good people took pity on him, and gave 
him money but others made sport of the homeless stranger 






















































Christopher Columbus 


7 




LA RABIDA CONVENT NEAR PAI.OS 
Here, on his way to France, Columbus met the good prior 


and insulted him. The very boys in the street, it is said, 
knowingly tapped their heads when he went by to show 
that they thought 
him a bit crazy. 

4. New friends 
of America. Dis¬ 
appointed and dis¬ 
couraged, after 
several years of 
weary waiting, 

Columbus set out on foot to try his fortunes in France. 
Friends of the queen now earnestly begged her to 
help him. What if he should be right and France 
should get the glory? Isabella hesitated, for she had 
but little money in her treasury. Finally, it is said, she 
declared that she would pledge her jewels, if necessary, to 
raise the money for a fleet. A swift horseman overtook 
Columbus, and brought him back. The great man cried 
with joy when Isabella told him that she would fit out 

an expedition 
and make him 
governor over all 
the lands he 
might discover. 

Columbus now 
took a solemn 
vow to use the 
riches obtained 
by his discovery 
in fitting out a 
great army 

COLUMBUS AT THE CONVENT OF LA RABIDA . . 

Columbus explaining his plan for reaching India to the WUl CU SUO U I Q 

prior and to Pinzon, the great sailor 




























8 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 



drive out of the holy city of Jerusalem those very 
Turks who had destroyed the trade routes of his native 

city. 

5. The first voyage. 

Columbus hastened 
to Palos. What a 
sad time in that town 
when the good queen 
commanded her ships 
and sailors to go 
with Columbus on a 
voyage where the 
bravest seamen had 
never sailed! When 
all things were ready 
for the voyage, 
Columbus’ friend, the 
good prior, held a 
solemn religious serv¬ 
ice, the sailors said 
» 7 

good-by to sorrowing friends, and the little fleet of three 
vessels and ninety stout-hearted men sailed bravely out 
of the harbor, August 3, 1492. 

Columbus commanded the “Santa Maria,” the largest 
vessel, only about ninety feet long. Pinzon was captain 
of the “Pinta,” the fastest vessel, and Pinzon’s brother of 
the “Nina,” the smallest vessel. The expedition stopped 
at the Canary Islands to make the last preparations for 
the long and dangerous voyage. The sailors were in no 
hurry to go farther, and many of them broke down and 
cried as the western shores of the Canaries faded slowly 
from their sight. 


CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS 

From the portrait by Antonis van Moor, painted in 
1542. from two miniatures in the Palace of 
Pardo. Reproduced by permission 
of C. F. Gunther, Chicago 


















Christopher Columbus 


9 


After many days, the ships sailed into an ocean filled 
with seaweed as far as the eye could see. Would the 
ships stick fast, or were they about to run aground on 
some hidden island and their crews be left to perish? 
The little fleet was already in the region of the trade 
winds whose gentle but steady breezes were carrying 
them farther and farther from home. If these winds 
never changed, they thought, how could the ships ever 
make their way back home? 

The sailors begged Columbus to turn back, but he 
encouraged them by pointing out signs of land, such as 
flocks of birds, and green branches floating in the sea. 
He told them that according to the maps they were near 
Japan, and offered a prize to the one who should first see 



land. One day, not long after, Pinzon shouted, “Land! 
Land! I claim my prize.” But he had only seen a dark 
bank of clouds far away on the horizon. 























10 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 



THE SANTA MARIA, THE FLAGSHIP OF 
COLUMBUS 

From a recent reconstruction approved 
by the Spanish Minister 
of Marine 


6 . Columbus the real discoverer. One beautiful even¬ 
ing, after the sailors had sung their vesper hymn, Columbus 

made a speech, pointing 
out how God had favored 
them with clear skies and 
gentle winds for their 
voyage, and said that 
since they were now so 
near land the ships must 
not sail any more after 
midnight. That very night 
Columbus saw, far across 
the dark waters, the glim¬ 
mering light of a torch. 
A few hours later the 
“Pinta” fired a joyful gun 
to tell that land had been surely found. All was excite¬ 
ment on board the ships and not an eye was closed that 
night. Overcome with joy, some of the sailors threw 
their arms around Columbus’ neck, 
others kissed his hands, and those who 
had opposed him most fell upon their 
knees, begged his pardon, and promised 
faithful obedience in the future. 

On Friday morning, October 12, 1492, 

Columbus, dressed in a robe of bright 
red and carrying the royal flag of Spain, 
stepped upon the shores of the New 
World. Around him were gathered his 
officers and sailors, dressed in their best 
clothes and carrying flags, banners, and COLUMBUS 
crosses. They fell upon their knees, N paia % 1 Madrid 1 











Christopher Columbus 


ii 


kissed the earth, and with tears of joy, gave thanks. 
Columbus then drew his sword and declared that the 
land belonged to the king and queen of Spain. 

7. How the people came to be called Indians. When 
the people of this land first saw the ships of Columbus, 
they imagined that the Spaniards had come up from 
the sea or down from the sky and were beings from 



THE LANDING OF COLUMBUS 


From, the painting by Dioscoro Puebla, now in the National Museum, Madrid 


Heaven. They, therefore, at first ran frightened into 
the woods. Afterward, as they came back, they fell 
upon their knees as if to worship the white men. 

Columbus called the island on which he landed San 
Salvador and named the people Indians because he 
believed he had discovered an island of East India, 
although he had really discovered one of the Bahama 
Islands, and, as we suppose, the one known today as 
San Salvador. He and his men were greatly disappointed 





















12 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


at the appearance of these new people, for instead of 
seeing them dressed in rich clothes, wearing ornaments 
of gold and silver, and living in great cities, as they had 
expected, they saw only half-naked, painted savages 
living in rude huts. 

8. Discovery of Cuba. After a few days Columbus 
sailed farther on and found the land now called Cuba, 
which he believed was Japan. Here his own ship was 
wrecked, leaving him only the “Nina,” for the “Pinta” 
had gone, he knew not where. He was now greatly 
alarmed, for if the “Nina” should be wrecked he and his 
men would be lost and no one would ever hear of his 
great discovery. He decided to return to Spain at once; 
but some of the sailors were so in love with the beautiful 
islands and the kindly people that they resolved to stay 
and plant the first Spanish colony in the New World. 
After collecting some gold and silver articles, plants, 
animals, birds, Indians, and other proofs of his discovery, 
Columbus spread the sails of the little “Nina” for the 
homeward voyage, January 4, 1493. 

9. Columbus returns to Spain. On the way home a 
great storm knocked the little vessel about for days. 
All gave up hope. But at last the “Nina” sailed into 
the harbor of Palos. 

What joy in that little town! The bells were set 
ringing and the people ran shouting through the streets 
to the wharf, for they had long given up Columbus and 
his crew as lost. To add to their joy, that very night 
when the streets were bright with torches, the “Pinta,” 
believed to have been lost, also sailed into the harbor. 

Columbus immediately wrote a letter to the king and 
queen, who bade him hasten to them in Barcelona. As 


Christopher Columbus 


13 


he came near the city, a large company of fine people 
rode out to give him welcome. He entered the city like a 
hero. The streets, the balconies, the doors, the windows, 
the very housetops were crowded with happy people 
eager to catch sight of him. 

In a great room of the palace, Ferdinand and Isabella 



THE RECEPTION OF COLUMBUS AT BARCELONA 
From the celebrated painting by the distinguished Spanish artist, Ricardo Balaca 


had placed their throne. Into this room marched 
Columbus, surrounded by the noblest people of Spain, 
but none more noble looking than the hero. The king 
and queen arose and Columbus fell upon his knees and 
kissed their hands. They gave him a seat near them and 
bade him tell the strange story of his wonderful voyage. 

When he had finished, the king and queen fell upon 
their knees and raised their hands in thanksgiving. All 











































14 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 




COLUMBUS IN CHAINS 

After the clay model by the Spanish sculpior, 
Vallmitjiana, at Havana 


the people did the same, and a great choir filled the room 
with a song of praise. The reception was now over and 

the people, shouting and 
cheering, followed 
Columbus to his home. 
How like a dream it must 
have seemed to Columbus 
who, only a year before, in 
threadbare clothes, was 
begging bread at the mon¬ 
astery near Palos! 

io. The second voyage. 
But all Spain was on fire 
for another expedition. 
Every seaport was now anxious to furnish ships, and 
every bold sailor was eager to go. In a few months a 
fleet of seventeen fine ships and fifteen hundred people 
sailed away under the 
command of Columbus 
(1493) to search for the 
rich cities of their dreams. 

After four years of explo¬ 
ration among the islands 
that soon after began 
to be called the West 
Indies, Columbus sailed 
back to Spain greatly 
disappointed. He had 
found no rich cities nor 
mines of gold and silver. 

11. The third and fourth voyages. On his third voyage 
(1498) Columbus sailed along the northern shores of South 


THE HOUSE IN WHICH COLUMBUS DIED 

This house is in Valladolid, Spain, and 
stands in a street named after 
the great discoverer 











Ponce de Leon 


i5 


America. When he reached the West Indies, the 
Spaniards who had settled there refused to obey him. 
They seized him, put him in chains, and sent him back to 
Spain. But the good queen set Columbus free and sent 
him on his fourth voyage (1502). He explored the coast 
of what is now Central America, but afterward met 
shipwreck on the island of Jamaica. He returned to 
Spain a broken-hearted man because he had failed to find 
the fabled riches of India. He died soon afterward, not 
knowing that he had discovered a new world. 

PONCE DE LEON, WHO SOUGHT A MARVELOUS LAND 

AND WAS DISAPPOINTED 

12. Ponce de Leon. When the Spaniards came to 
America they were told strange stories by the Indians 
about many marvelous places. Perhaps most wonderful 
of all was the story of Bimini, where every day was per¬ 
fect and every one was happy. Here was also the magic 
fountain which would make old men young once more, 
and keep young men from growing old. 

When Columbus sailed to America for the second time 
he brought with him a brave and able soldier, named 
Ponce de Leon. De Leon spent many years on the new 
continent fighting with the Indians for his king. After 
a time he was made governor of Porto Rico. While 
thus serving his country he too heard the story of this 
wonderful land which no white man had explored. Like 
most Spaniards, he.loved adventure. He was also weary 
of the cares of his office, and soon resolved to find this 
land and to explore it. 

In the spring of 1513 De Leon set sail with three ships 
from Porto Rico. Somewhere to the north lay this land 


i6 Elementary Histery: Stories of Heroism 

of perfect happiness. Northward he steered for many 
days, past lovely tropical islands. At last, on Easter 
Sunday, an unknown shore appeared. On its banks there 
grew splendid trees. Flowers bloomed everywhere, and 
clear streams came gently down to the sea. De Leon 
named the new land Florida and took possession of it 
for the king of Spain. 

Various duties kept him away from the new land for 
eight years after its discovery. In 1521 he again set out 
from Porto Rico, with priests and soldiers, and amply 
provided with cattle and horses and goods. He wrote 
to the king of Spain: “Now I return to that island, if 
it please God’s will, to settle it.’’ He was an old man 
then and hoped to found a peaceful and prosperous colony 
of which he was to be governor. But Indians attacked 
his settlement and sickness laid low many of his men. 
He had been in Florida onlv a short time when he himself 

m/ 

was wounded in a fight with the Indians. Feeling that 
he would soon die, he hastily set sail with all his men for 
Cuba, where he died shortly after. 

De Leon had failed to find the wonderful spring and 
returned older than when he came. He had failed even 
to establish the colony of which he was to be governor. 
But De Leon did discover a new and great land which 
is now one of the states of the Union. To him also goes 
the honor of having been the first man to make a settle¬ 
ment in what is now the United States. 

CORTES, WHO FOUND THE RICH CITY OF MEXICO 

13. Cortes invades Mexico. Foremost among Span¬ 
ish soldiers was Hernando Cortes, who, in 1519, sailed 


Hernando Cortes 


17 




THE ARMOR OF CORTES 

Now in the museum of Madrid 


with twelve ships from Cuba to the coast of what is now 
Mexico. His soldiers and sailors were hardly on land 

when he sank every one of his ships. 
His men now had to fight. They 
wore coats of iron, were armed with 
swords and guns, and had a few 
cannon and horses. Every few miles 
they saw villages, and now and 
then cities. The Indians wore 
cotton clothes, and in their ears 
and around their necks and 
their ankles they had gold and 
silver ornaments. The Spaniards 
could hardly keep their hands 
off -these ornaments, they were 
so eager for gold. They were 
now sure that the rich cities, which Columbus had hoped 
to find, and which every Spaniard fully believed would 
be found, were near at hand. 

The people of Mexico had neithei 
guns nor swords, but they were brave. 

Near the first large city, thousands 

* 

upon thousands 
of fiercely painted 


warriors, wearing 
leather shields, 
rushed upon the 
little band of 
Spaniards. For 
two days the fight¬ 
ing went on, but 
not a single 


■ 


HOUSE OF CORTES, COYOACAN, MEXICO 

Over the main doorway are graven the arms of the 
Conqueror, who lived here while the building 
of Coyoqcan, which is older than the 
City of Mexico, went on 

































ig Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

Spaniard was killed. The arrows of the Indians could 
not pierce iron coats, but the sharp Spanish swords could 

easily cut leather shields. 
The simple natives thought 
they must be fighting with 
gods instead of men, and 
gave up the battle. 

Day after day Cortes 
marched on until a splen¬ 
did valley broke upon 
his view. His men now 
saw a wonderful sight; 
cities built on lakes, where 
canals took the place of 
streets and where canoes 
carried people from place 
to place. It all seemed 
like a dream. But they 
hastened forward to the 
great capital city. It, too, 
was built on a lake, larger than any seen before, and could 
be reached only along three great roads of solid stonework. 

These roads ran to the center of the city where stood, 
in a great square, a wonderful temple. The top of this 
temple could be reached by one hundred and fourteen 
stone steps running around the outside. The city con¬ 
tained sixty thousand people, and there were many stone 
buildings, on the flat roofs of which the natives had 
beautiful flower gardens. 

Montezuma, the Indian ruler, received Cortes and his 
men very politely, and gave the officers a house near the 
great temple. But Cortes was in danger. What if 



HERNANDO CORTES 


From the portrait painted, by Charles Wilson 
Peale, now in Independence Hall, 
Philadelphia 




Hernando Cortes 


i9 



the Indians should rise against him? To guard against 
this danger, Cortes compelled Montezuma to live in the 
Spanish quarters. The people did not like to see their 
beloved ruler a prisoner in his own city. 

But no outbreak came until the Spaniards, fearing an 
attack, fell upon the Indians, who were holding a reli¬ 
gious festival, and killed hundreds of them. The Indian 
council immediately chose Montezuma’s brother to be 
ruler and the whole city rose to drive out the now hated 
Spaniards. The streets and even the house tops were 
filled with angry warriors. Cortes compelled Montezuma 
to stand upon the roof of the Spanish fort and command 
his people to stop fighting. 


CORTES BEFORE MONTEZUMA 

After the original painting by the Mexican artist, J. Ortega, now in the National 
' Gallery of San Carlos, Mexico 

But he was ruler no longer. He was struck down by 
his own warriors, and died in a few days, a broken- 






























20 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 



hearted man. After several days of hard fighting, Cortes 
and his men tried to get out of the city, but the Indians 

fell on the little army and killed more 
than half of the Spanish soldiers before 
they could get away. 

14. Cortes conquers Mexico. Because 
of jealousy a Spanish army was sent 
to bring Cortes back to Cuba. By cap¬ 
turing this army Cortes secured more 
soldiers. Once more he marched 
against the city. What could bows 
and arrows and spears and stones do 
against the terrible horsemen and 
their great swords, or against the 
Spanish foot soldiers with their muskets 
and cannon ? At length the great 
Indian city was almost destroyed, but* 
thousands of its brave defenders were 
killed before the fighting ceased (1521). From this 
time on, the country gradually filled with 
Spanish settlers. 

15. Cortes visits Spain. After 
several years, Cortes longed to see 
his native land once more. He 
set sail, and reached the little 
port of Palos from which, many 
years before, the great 
Columbus had sailed in search 
of the rich cities of the Far East. 

Here now was the very man who AN INDIAN COEN BIN _ TLAXCALA 
had found the cities and had The f e T- co ™ m “ nity or public bins, 

stand m the open roadway, and 

returned to tell the story to his are the ValflTct its in 


. 

GUATEMOTZIN 

The nephew of Montezuma 
and the last Indian em¬ 
peror of Mexico. After 
the statue by Don 
Francisco 
Jimenez 











Hernando de Soto 


21 


king and countrymen. All along the journey to the 
king, the people now crowded to see Cortes, as they 
had once crowded to see Columbus. 

Cortes afterwards returned to Mexico, where he 
spent a large part of his fortune in trying to improve the 
country. The Spanish king permitted great wrong to 
be done to Cortes and, like Columbus, the discoverer, 
Cortes, the conqueror, died neglected by the king whom 
he had made so rich. For three hundred years the mines 
of Mexico poured a constant stream of gold and silver 
into the lap of Spain. 

DE SOTO, THE DISCOVERER OF THE MISSISSIPPI 

\ 

16. The expedition to Florida. Hernando de Soto 
was a famous Spanish soldier. He made up his mind 
to lead an expedition through Florida. The news stirred 
all Spain. Many nobles sold their lands to fit out their 
sons to fight under so great a leader. 

The Spanish settlers of Cuba gave a joyful welcome to 
De Soto and to the brave men from the homeland. 
After many festivals and religious ceremonies, nine ves¬ 
sels, carrying many soldiers, twelve priests, many hundred 
horses, and a herd of swine, sailed for Florida (1539). 

How wonderful it must have seemed to the Indians 
as the men and horses clad in steel armor landed! There 
were richly colored banners, beautiful crucifixes, and 
many things never before seen by the Indians. But this 
turned out to be the most cruel expedition yet planned. 

Wherever the Spaniards marched Indians were seized 
as slaves and made to carry the baggage and do the hard 
work. If the Indian guides were false, they were burned 
at the stake or were torn to pieces by bloodhounds. 


22 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

Hence the Indians feared the Spaniards, and Indian 
guides often misled the Spanish soldiers on purpose to 

save the guides’ own tribes 
from harm. 

De Soto fought his way 
through forests and swamps 
to the head of Apalachee Bay, 
where he spent the winter. 
In the spring a guide led 
the army into what is now 
Georgia, in search of a coun¬ 
try supposed to be rich in 
gold and ruled by a woman. 
The soldiers suffered and 
grumbled, but De Soto only 
turned the march farther 
northward. 

The Appalachian Mount¬ 
ains caused them to turn south again until they reached 
the village of Mavilla (Mobile), where the Indians rushed 
on them in great numbers and tried to crush the army. 
But Spanish swords and Spanish guns won the day 
against Indian arrows and Indian clubs. De Soto lost 
more than a hundred men, nearly fifty horses, and the 
baggage of his entire army, yet he boldly refused to send 
to the coast for the men and supplies waiting for him there. 

17. The discovery of the Mississippi. Again De Soto’s 
men followed him northward, this time into what we 
know as northern Mississippi, where the second winter' 
was spent in a deserted Indian village. In the spring 
he demanded two hundred Indians to carry baggage, but 
the chief and his men one night stole into camp, set 



HERNANDO DE SOTO 

After an engraving to be found in the 
works of the great Spanish 
historian, Herrera 





Hernando de Soto 


23 


fire to their own rude houses, gave the war whoop, 
frightened many horses into running away, and killed 
a number of the Spaniards. 

The army then marched westward for many days, 
wading swamps and wandering through forests so dense 
that at times they could not see the sun. At last, in 
1541, a river greater than any the Spaniards had ever 
seen was reached. It was the Mississippi, more than a 
mile wide, rushing swiftly on at full flood toward the Gulf. 

On barges made by their own hands, De Soto and his 
men crossed to the west bank of the broad stream. 
There they marched northward, probably as far as the 
region now known as Missouri, and then westward two 
hundred miles. Nothing but hardships met them on 
every hand. In the spring of 1542, the little army 
marched southeast and came upon the Mississippi again. 

De Soto was tiring out. He grew sad and asked the 
Indians how far it 
was to the sea. 

It was too far for 
the bold leader. 

A fever seized him, 
and after a few 
days he died, and 
at dead of night 
his companions 
buried him in the 
bosom of the great 
river he had dis¬ 
covered. 

18. Only half the army returns to Cuba. There were 
bold leaders left in the army. They turned westward 



,(>- i '' ' 


DE SOTO DISCOVERS THE MIGHTY MISSISSIPPI 


2 





24 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

again, but after finding neither gold nor silver, they 
returned to the Mississippi and spent the winter on its 
banks. There they built boats, and then floated down 
to the Gulf. Only half the army returned to tell the sad 
tales of hardships, battles, and poverty. 

V 

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL 

The Leading Facts, i. Columbus was born near the shores 
of the Mediterranean and trained for the sea by study and by 
experience. 2. The people of Europe traded with the Far 
East, but the Turks destroyed their trade routes, 3. Columbus 
was drawn to Portugal because of Prince Henry’s great work. 
4. Columbus thought he could sail west and reach the rich 
cities of the East. 5. After many discouragements he won aid 
from Isabella and discovered the Bahama Islands, Cuba, and 
Haiti. 6. The king and queen of Spain received Columbus 
with great ceremony. 7. Columbus made three more voyages, 
but was disappointed in not finding the rich cities of 
the Far East. 

8. Ponce de Leon sailed from Porto Rico to find a land of 
which strange stories had been told — stories of riches and of 
a fountain of eternal youth, g. He reached Florida on Easter 
Sunday, 1513. 10. Eight years later he returned to found a 

settlement. 11. He was attacked by the Indians, wounded, 
and forced to return to Cuba, where he died of his wounds. 
12. His is the distinction of being the first white man to plant 
a settlement in what is now the United States. 

13. Cortes marched against a rich city, afterward called 
Mexico, captured the ruler, and fought great battles with the ■ 
people. 14. Cortes captured the city and ruled it for several 
years. 75. From this time on Mexico gradually filled with 
Spanish settlers. 

16. De Soto wandered over the country east of the Rocky 
Mountains in search of rich cities, found a great river, the 
Mississippi, and later was buried in its waters. 

Study Questions. 1. Make a list of articles which the cara¬ 
vans (camels and horses) of the East brought to the Black Sea. 
2. What studies fitted Columbus for the sea? 3. Why were 
there so many sailors in Lisbon? 4. How did Columbus get 


Hernando de Solo 


25 


his idea of the earth’s shape? 5. What did men in Portugal 
and Spain think of this idea? 6. Tell the story of Columbus 
in Spain. 7. What is the meaning of the vow taken by him? 
8 . Make a picture in your mind of the first voyage of Colum¬ 
bus. Read the poem “Columbus,” by Joaquin Miller, g. 
Shut your eyes and imagine you see Columbus land and take 
possession of the country. 10. Why was Columbus so disap¬ 
pointed? 11. How did the people of Palos act when Columbus 
returned? 12. Picture the reception of Columbus by the 
people, and by the king and queen. 13. Why was Columbus 
disappointed in the second expedition? 14. What did Colum¬ 
bus believe he had accomplished? 15. What had he failed to 
do that he hoped to do? 

16. Why did Ponce de Leon go in search of the new land? 
77. What was the strange tradition about the country? 18. 
What did Ponce de Leon set out to do on his second trip? 
ig. Did he succeed? 20. What is his distinction? 

27. Why did Cortes sink his ships ? 22. How were Spaniards 

armed and how were Indians armed? 23. Describe the city of 
Mexico. 24. Who began the war, and what does that show 
about the Spaniards? 25. How did Cortes get more soldiers? 

26. How did the people and king receive Cortes in Spain? 

27. How was he treated on his return to Mexico? 

28. Why were De Soto’s Indian guides false? 29. Show 
that De Soto was a brave man. 30. How far north did the 
Spaniards go both east and west of the Mississippi? 31. Tell 
the story of De Soto’s death and burial. 32. What proof 
can you give that the Spaniards were more cruel than was 
necessary ? 

Suggested Readings. Columbus: Hart, Colonial Children, 
4-6; Pratt, Exploration and Discovery , 17-32; Wright, Chil¬ 
drens Stories in American History, 38-60; Higginson, Ameri¬ 
can Explorers , 19-52; Glascock, Stories of Columbia , 10-35; 
McMurry, Pioneers on Land and Sea, 122-160; Brooks, The 
True Story of Christopher Columbus, 1-103, 112^-172. 

Ponce de Leon: Pratt, Explorations and Discoveries, 17-23. 

Cortes: McMurry, Pioneers on Land and Sea, 186-225; 
Hale, Stories of Adventure, 101-126; Ober, Hernando Cortes, 
24-80, 82-291. 

De Soto: Hart, Colonial Children, 16-19; Higginson, 
American Explorers, 121-140. 


26 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


THE MEN WHO MADE AMERICA KNOWN TO 
ENGLAND AND WHO CHECKED THE 
PROGRESS OF SPAIN 

JOHN CABOT ALSO SEARCHES FOR A SHORTER ROUTE TO 
INDIA AND FINDS THE MAINLAND OF NORTH AMERICA 

19. Cabot’s voyages. When the news of Columbus’ 
great discovery reached England, the king was sorry, no 
doubt, that he had not helped him. The story is that 
Columbus had gone to Henry VII, king of England, for 
aid to make his voyage. But England had a brave sailor 
of her own, John Cabot, an Italian, born in Columbus’ 
own town of Genoa, who also had learned his lessons 
in voyages on the Mediterranean. Afterward Cabot 
made England his home and lived in the old seaport town 
of Bristol, the home of many English sailors. 

He, too, believed 
the world was 
round, and India 
could be reached 
by sailing west¬ 
ward. Henry VII 
gave Cabot permis- 
sion to try, pro¬ 
vided he would 
give the king one- 
fifth of all the 
gold and silver 
which everybody 
believed he would 
find in India. 

Accordingly, John Cabot, and it may be his son, 
Sebastian, set out on a voyage in May, 1497. After 



CABOT TAKING POSSESSION OF NORTH AMERICA FOR 
THE KING OF ENGLAND 

On the spot where he landed Cabot planted a large cross 
and beside it flags of England and of St. Mark 









John Cabot 


27 


many weeks, Cabot discovered land, now supposed to 
be either a part of Labrador or of Cape Breton Island. 
He landed and planted 
the dag of England.!; 

Later, he probably saw 
parts of Newfoundland. 

How John Cabot was treated 
by the king and people of 
England when he came back 
is seen in an old letter written 
from England by a citizen of 
Venice to ’his friends at home. 

“The king has promised that 
in the spring our countryman 
shall have ten ships, armed to 
his order. The king has also 
given him money wherewith to 
amuse himself till then, and 
he i§ now at Bristol with his 
wife and his sons. His name 

. . JOHN CABOT AND HIS SON SEBASTIAN 

IS John Cabot, and he IS called From the statue modeled, by John 
., j 1 • 1 tt , 1 • Cassidy, Manchester, England 

the great admiral. Vast honor is 

paid to him; he dresses in silk, and the English run after him 
like mad people, so that he can enlist as many of them 
as he pleases, and a number of our own rogues besides.” 

Again, in May, 1498, John Cabot started for India 
by sailing toward the northwest. This time the fleet 
was larger, and filled with eager English sailors. But 
Cabot could not find a way to India, so he altered his 
course and coasted southward as far as the region now 
called North Carolina. 

Now because of these two voyages of Cabot, England 












28 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


later claimed a large part of North America, for Cabot 
had really seen the mainland of America before Columbus. 



THE FINDING OF AMERICA 

The first voyages of Columbus, the discoverer of the New World, and of Cabot, the first 
man to reach the mainland of North A merica 


SIR FRANCIS DRAKE, THE ENGLISH “DRAGON,” WHO 
SAILED THE SPANISH MAIN AND “SINGED THE 

king of Spain’s beard” 

20. The quarrel between Spain and England. After 

John Cabot failed to find a new way to India, King 
Henry VII did nothing more to help English discovery. 
His son, Henry VIII, got into a great quarrel with the 
king of Spain. He was too busy with this quarrel to 
think much about America. 

During this very time, Cortes and others were doing 
their wonderful deeds. Spain grew bold, seized English 
seamen, threw them into dungeons, and even burned 
them at the stake. Englishmen robbed Spanish ships 
and killed Spanish sailors in revenge. 














Sir Francis Drake 


29 


21. Sir Francis Drake. A most daring English sea¬ 
man was Sir Francis Drake. From boyhood days he 
had been a sailor. He loved to fight the Spaniards on 
sea or land. Once, while on the Isthmus of Panama, he 
caught sight of the Pacific Ocean, which only Spaniards 
had seen before. Then and there he resolved that the 
Spaniards should no longer have it all to themselves. 

22. Drake’s voyage around the world. Four years 
later he carried out his plan. One ship was lost in a 
terrible storm. One turned back to England. But 
Drake kept on around South America and up its western 
coast. Near Valparaiso, his men saw the first great 
treasure ship. The Spanish sailors jumped overboard, 
and left four hundred pounds 
of gold to Drake and his men. 

Week after week Drake sailed 
northward until he reached 
the coast of Peru. 

Another great treasure ship 
had just sailed for Panama. 

Away flew Drake’s ship, the 
‘‘Pelican,” in swift pursuit. 

For eight hundred miles, day 
and night, the chase went on. 

One evening, just at dark, the 
little ship rushed down upon 
the great vessel, captured her 
easily, and carried her to sea 
farther out of her course, for 
other Spanish ships had been 
sent to catch Drake. What a rich haul! More than 
twenty tons of silver bars, thirteen chests of silver coin, 



SIR FRANCIS DRAKE 

From the original portrait attributed to 
Sir A ntonis van Moor, in the pos¬ 
session of Viscount Dillon, at 
Dilchly Park, England 




3 ° 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


one hundredweight of gold, besides a great store of 
precious stones. When Drake set the Spanish captain 
free, he said: “Tell your ruler to put no more Englishmen 

to death, or I will hang two thousand 
Spaniards and send him their heads.” 

The three Spanish ships sent to 
destroy Drake overtook him, but 
they dared not attack him, and sailed 
back. The little ‘ ‘ Pelican ’ ’ continued 
northward, and spent the winter on 
the coast of California where Drake 
prepared her for the long voyage home. 
He had sailed north as far as what 

u was ZTf^mThe limbers was afterward known as the Oregon 
of the ■■Golden Hind ■■ country —which he called New Albion 

—hoping for a northeast passage to the Atlantic, but 

finally turned the ‘ ‘ Pelican ’ ’ toward the far-away islands 

\ 

of the Indian Ocean. Week after week went by. At 
last he made his way among the islands and across 
the Indian Ocean until the Cape of Good Hope was 
rounded, and the “Pelican” spread her wings northward 
toward England. 

Drake reached home in 1580, the first Englishman to 
sail around the world. The people who had given him 
up as lost shouted for joy when they heard that he was 
safe. Queen Elizabeth sent for him and made him tell 
the story of his wonderful deeds over and over again. 
She gave him a title, so that now he was Sir Francis 
Drake. His ship, the “Pelican,” was renamed the 
“Golden Hind.” 

23. Drake again goes to fight the Spaniards. Drake 
soon took command of a fleet of twenty-five vessels and 



drake’s chair, oxford 


















Sir Francis Drake 


3i 


two thousand five hundred men, all eager to fight the 
Spaniards (1585). He sailed boldly for the coast of’ 
Spain, frightened the people, and then went in search 
of the “Gold Fleet,” which was bringing treasures from 
America to the king of Spain. 

No sooner had Drake missed the fleet than he made 
direct for the West Indies, where he spread terror among 
the islands. The Spaniards feared him, so greatly that 
they called him the “Dragon.” 



QUEEN ELIZABETH MAKING DRAKE A NOBLEMAN 

After the drawing by Sir John Gilbert. It pictures the scene that took place on board the 
“Golden Hind” at the close of the great voyage. Queen Elizabeth visited Drake 
in his ship and conferred knighthood on him for his great services to England 

The Spanish king was angry. He resolved to crush 
England. More than one hundred ships, manned by 
thousands of sailors, were to carry a great army to the 












































32 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


hated island. Drake heard about it, and quickly gathered 
thirty fast ships manned by sailors as bold as himself. 



THE SPANISH ARMADA 

More than one hundred twenty-five vessels sailed from Lisbon to conquer England, 
but only about fifty returned to the home port 


His fleet sailed right into the harbor of Cadiz, past 
cannon and forts, and burned so many Spanish ships 
that it took Spain another year to get the great fleet 
ready. Drake declared that he had “ singed the King 
of Spain’s beard.” 

24. The Spanish Armada. The king of Spain resolved 
to crush England at one mighty blow. In 1588, the 
Spanish Armada, as the great fleet was called, sailed for 
England. There were scores and scores of war vessels 
manned by more than seven thousand sailors, and carrying 
nearly twenty thousand soldiers. Almost every noble 
family in Spain sent one or more of its sons to fight 
against England. 

When this mighty fleet reached the English Channel, 
Drake and other sea captains as daring as himself dashed 
at the Spanish ships, and by the help of a great storm 
that came up, succeeded in destroying almost the whole 








































33 


Sir Walter Raleigh 


fleet. No such blow had ever before fallen upon the great 
and powerful Spanish nation. From that time on her 
power grew less and less, while England’s power on the 
sea grew greater and greater. Englishmen could now 
go to America without much thought of danger from 
Spaniards. 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH, THE FRIEND OF ELIZABETH, 
PLANTS A COLONY IN AMERICA TO CHECK THE 

POWER OF SPAIN 

25. Sir Walter Raleigh. Born (1552) near the sea, 
Raleigh fed his young imagination with stories of the 
bold deeds of English seamen. He went to college at 
Oxford at the age of fourteen, and made a good name 
as a student. 

As he grew to manhood, the love of adventure drew him 
into the life of a soldier. Before he was thirty years old, 
he had been in France, Holland, America, and Ireland. 

At this time Raleigh was a fine-looking man, about 
six feet tall, with 
dark hair and a 
handsome face. 

He had plenty of 
wit and good sense, 

^ilthough he was 
fond, indeed, of 
fine clothes. He 
was just the very 
one to catch the 
favor of Oueen 
Elizabeth. 

One day, Elizabeth and her train of lords and ladies 
were going down the roadway from the royal castle to 


THE BOYHOOD OF RALEIGH 

After the painting by Sir John E. Millais 




34 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

i 

the river. The people crowded both sides of the road 
to see their beloved queen and her beautiful ladies go 
by. Raleigh pressed his way to the front. 

As Elizabeth drew near, 
she hesitated about passing 
over a muddy place. In 
a moment the feeling that 
every true gentleman has in 
the presence of ladies told 
Raleigh what to do, and 
the queen suddenly saw his 
beautiful red velvet cloak 
lying in the mud at her 
feet. She stepped upon 
it, nodded to its gallant 
owner, and passed on. 
From this time forward 
Raleigh was a great favorite 
at the court of Queen 
Elizabeth. 

26. Trying to plant English colonies. In 1584 Raleigh 
caused a friend to write a letter to the queen, explaining 
how English colonies planted on the coast of North 
America would not only check the power of Spain, but 
would also increase the power of England. That very 
year the queen gave him permission to plant colonies, 
and thus a better way of opposing Spain had been found 
than robbing treasure ships and burning towns. 

Raleigh immediately sent a ship across to explore. 
The captain landed on what is now Roanoke Island. 
The Indians came with a fleet of forty canoes to give 
them a friendly welcome. After a few days an Indian 



SIR WALTER RALEIGH 
From the original portrait painted 
by Federigo Zuccaro 





Sir Walter Raleigh 


35 


land and people so 


queen with her maidens came to entertain the English. 
“We found the people most gentle, loving, and faithful, 
void of all guile and treason,” said Captain Barlow. 
His glowing account of the 
pleased Elizabeth that she named 
the country Virginia, in honor 
of. her own virgin life. 

One hundred settlers were 
sent to the new colony, but they 
failed to make friends with the 
Indians. When Drake came the 
next Spring the settlers were 
glad to get back to England. 

They took home from America 
two food plants, the white potato 
and Indian corn. These were 
worth more to the world than 
all the gold and silver found in 
the mines of Mexico and Peru. 

Raleigh’s first efforts to 
found a colony in the new 
land failed. He had spent 
thousands of dollars, yet he 
would not give up. 

27. Roanoke colony. He immediately sent out a sec¬ 
ond colony of one hundred and fifty settlers. A number 
of these settlers were women. The governor was John 
White. Roanoke was occupied once more, and there, 
shortly afterwards, was born Virginia Dare, the first 
white child of English parents in North America. Before 
a year had gone by, the governor had to go to England 
for aid. 



INDIAN CORN 





















36 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

But Raleigh and all England had little time to think 
of the colonies in America. The Spanish Armada was 
coming, and every English ship and every English sailor 
were needed to fight the Spaniards. Two years went by 
before Governor White reached America with supplies. 
When he did reach there not a settler was left to tell 
the tale. 

The only trace of the lost colony was the word 
“Croatoan” cut in large letters on a post. Croatoan 
was the name of an island near by. White returned 
home, but Raleigh sent out an old seaman, Samuel 
Mace, to search for the lost colony. It was all in vain. 
Many years later news reached England that a tribe of 
Indians had a band of white slaves, but the mystery of 
the lost colony never was cleared up. 

Raleigh had now spent his great fortune. But he did 
not lose heart, for he said that he should live to see 

Virginia a nation. He was 
right. Before he died a great 
colony had been planted in 
Virginia, a ship loaded with 
some products of Virginia 
had sailed into London port, 
and an Indian “princess” 
had married a Virginian and 
had been received with honor 
by the king and queen of 
England. 

28. The death of Sir Walter 

potato plant and tubers Raleigh. But the great 
Queen Elizabeth was dead, and an unfriendly king, 
James I, was on the throne. He threw Raleigh into 




Sir Walter Raleigh 


37 


prison, and kept him there for twelve years. While 
in prison Raliegh wrote his well-known History of the 
world. The Spaniards 
urged James to put him 
to death. He had been a 
lifelong enemy of Spain 
and they knew they were 
not safe as long as he 
lived. 

At last Spanish influ¬ 
ence was too strong, and 
Sir Walter Raleigh faced 
death on the scaffold as 
bravely as he had 'faced 
the Spaniards in battle. 

Thus died a noble man 
who gave both his great 
fortune and his life for 
the purpose of planting 
an English colony in 
America. 

EARLY SETTLEMENTS IN VIRGINIA AND 
MARYLAND 



SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL 

The Leading Facts, i. John Cabot, trying for a short route 
to India, discovered what is supposed to be Labrador, or Cape 
Breton. 2. On a second voyage, he coasted along eastern 
North America as far south as the Carolinas. j. Later, Eng¬ 
land claimed all North America. 

4. Francis Drake sailed to the Pacific in the “Pelican” and 
then turned northward after the Spanish gold ships. 5. He 
wintered in California, and then started across the Pacific — 
the first Englishman to cross. 6. Drake reached England, and 
was received with great joy. 7. Once more Drake went to 











38 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

fight the Spaniards, until the great Armada attacked England. 

8. Walter Raleigh, a student, a soldier, and a seaman, won 
the favor of the Queen, p. He hated the Spaniards, and 
planted settlements in what is now North Carolina. 10. 
Raleigh’s prophecy. 

Study Questions. 1. Tell the story of John Cabot before he 
went to England. 2. What did Cabot want to find and what 
did he find? 3. How was Cabot treated by King Henry VII, 
according to a “citizen of Venice,” after he returned? 4. Why 
did England claim a large part of North America? 

5. Prove that Spanish and English sailors did not like each 
other. 6. Who was Francis Drake? 7. What were Drake’s 
plans? 8. Tell the story of Drake’s voyage from Valparaiso 
to Oregon, p. Tell the story of the voyage across the Pacific 
and how he was received at home. 10. What did Drake do 
when he missed the “Gold Fleet” ? 11. What did Drake mean 

when he said he had “singed the King of Spain’s beard”? 
12. Tell what became of the Spanish Armada, and what effects 
its failure produced. 

13. What other brave man went to America before the 
Armada was destroyed? 14. Give the early experiences of 
Raleigh before he was thirty. 13. Make a mental picture 
of the episode of the cloak. 16. Explain how kind the 
Indians were. 17. Who was the first white child of English 
parents born in America? 18. How did the Armada affect 
America? ip. Read in other books about Raleigh’s death. 
20. Compare the English and the Spanish treatment of the 
Indians. 

Suggested Readings. Cabot: Hart, Colonial Children, 7-8; 
Griffis, Romance of Discovery, 105-m. 

Drake: Hart, Source Book of American History, 9-11; 
Hale, Stories of Discovery, 86-106; Frothingham, Sea Fighters, 
3 ~ 44 - 

Raleigh: Hart, Colonial Children, 165—170; Pratt, Early 
Colonies, 33—40; Wright, Children’s Stories in American His¬ 
tory, 254—258; Higginson, American Explorers, 177-200; Bolton, 
Famous Voyagers, 154-234. 


Samuel de Champlain 


39 


THE MAN WHO PLANTED NEW FRANCE IN 
AMERICA, EXPLORED THE GREAT LAKES 
REGION, AND FOUNDED QUEBEC 

SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN, THE FATHER OF NEW FRANCE 

29. The French in North America. France was the 
slowest of the great nations in the race for North America. 
Not until 1534 did Jacques Cartier, a French sea captain 
searching for a shorter route to India, sail into the mouth 
of the St. Lawrence River. He reached an Indian village 
where Montreal now stands and took possession of the 
country for his king. 

One year after Jamestown was settled, and one year 
before the “Half Moon” sailed up the Hudson, Samuel 
de Champlain laid the 
foundations of Quebec 
(1608). Champlain was 
of noble birth, and had 
been a soldier in the 
French army. He had 
already helped found Port 
Royal in Nova Scotia. 

Wherever he went, 

Champlain made fast 
friends with the Algonquin 
Indians, who lived along 
the St. Lawrence. He gave 
them presents and bought 
their skins of beaver and 
other animals. In the 
fur trade, he saw a golden stream flowing into the 
king’s treasury. Champlain certainly made a good 



SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN 

From the portrait painting in Independence 
Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 






» 


40 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 



THE SITE OF QUEBEC 

Here, 1608, on a yarrow bell of land al Ihe fool of the high 
bluff, Champlain laid out the city of Quebec 


beginning in winning the freindship of these Indians, but 
he made one great blunder which caused the Iroquois to 
become his bitter and lasting enemies. 

30. Champlain and ‘the Indians. The 
Algonquins were bitter foes of the Iroqouis or 

Five Nations. 
One time the 
Algonquins 
begged Cham¬ 
plain and his 
men, clad all 
in steel and 
armed with the 
deadly musket, 
to join their 
war party (1609). This he did. They made their 
way up the St. Lawrence River to the mouth of the 
Richelieu, and up that river to the falls. The Algonquin 
Indians then carried the canoes and the baggage around 
the falls. 

What must have been Champlain’s feelings when they 
glided out of the narrow river into the lake which now 
bears his name! A lake no white man had ever seen, and 
greater than any in France! On the left he, saw the 
ridges of the Green Mountains, on the right the pine-clad 
slopes of the Adirondacks, the hunting grounds of the 
Iroquois. 

One evening, near where the ruins of Ticonderoga now 
stand, they saw the war canoes of their enemies. That 
night the hostile tribes taunted each other and boasted 
of their bravery. On the shores of the lake the next 
day they drew up in battle array. The Iroquois chiefs 














Samuel de Champlain 


4i 


wore tall plumes on their heads, and their warriors carried, 
besides their bows and arrows, shields of wood or hide. 

All at once 
the Algonquins 
opened their 
ranks and Cham- 
plain, in full 
armor, walked 
forth. The Iro¬ 
quois gazed in 
wonder on the 
first European 
soldiers they had 
ever seen. Champlain leveled his musket and fired. 
Two chiefs fell. Then another report rang through the 
woods, and the boldest warriors in North America broke 

The Algonquins, yelling like 
demons, ran after them, killing 
and capturing as many as 
possible. 

There was great rejoicing 
among the victors, and 
Champlain was their hero. 
But there must have been great 
sorrow and vows of revenge 
among the Iroquois. 

The next year Champlain 
joined another Algonquin war 
party, and helped to win another 
victory over the Iroquois. 
Again, in 1615, he joined a 
party of more then five 


and fled in confusion. 

















42 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism. 


hundred painted warriors. They traveled to the shore of 
Lake Ontario and boldly crossed to the other side in 
their bark canoes. They hid their boats and silently 
marched into the country of the Iroquois. 

Some miles south of Oneida Lake they came upon a 
fortified Indian town. For several days Champlain and 
his Indians tried to break into or burn the fort, but had 
to give it up. These campaigns made the Iroquois hate 



the French almost as much as they did the Algonquins. 

For this reason Frenchmen found, it safer to go west 
by traveling up the Ottawa River and crossing over to 
Lake Huron than by paddling up the St. Lawrence and 
through lakes Ontario and Erie. The result was that 
the French discovered Lake Michigan and Lake Superior 
long before they ever saw Lake Erie. 

Champlain remained in Canada many years, always 
working for the good of New France, as the country was 
then called. He helped on the work of the missionaries, 
made peace between hostile tribes of Indians, and encour¬ 
aged the fur trade and the coming of new settlers. Worn 









Henry Hudson 


43 


out with toil and travel, far away from kindred and 
native land, Champlain died at Quebec on Christmas 
Day, 1635. 

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL 

The Leading Facts, i. Champlain laid the foundations of 
New France at Quebec. 2. He made a treaty with the Indians 
on the St. Lawrence. 

Study Questions. 1. What part of North America did 
France first settle? 2. Who was Champlain? 3. What 
things in New France did Champlain help? 4. What was 
Champlain’s blunder? 5. Tell the story of his first battle 
with the Iroqouis. 

Suggested Readings. Champlain: Wright, Childrens 
Stories in American History, 269-280; McMurry, Pioneers on 
Land and Sea, 1-34. 


WHAT THE DUTCH ACCOMPLISHED IN THE 
COLONIZATION OF THE NEW WORLD 

HENRY HUDSON, WHOSE DISCOVERIES LED DUTCH TRADERS 
TO COLONIZE NEW NETHERLAND 

31. Hudson’s explorations. Henry Hudson was an 
English sea captain in the service of a great Dutch trading 
company. One bright fall day Hudson sailed into the 
mouth of the great river which now bears his name. 
He hoped that he had entered an arm of the sea which 
would carry him to India. He turned the prow of his 
vessel, the “Half Moon,” up stream. 

Soon the beauty of the river, the rich colors of the great 
forests, the steep sides of the palisades, the slopes of the 
highlands, the strange In bans in their bark canoes, so 
took the attention of Hudson and his crew that for a 
time they forgot all about a route to India. 


44 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 




What a flutter of excitement the “Half Moon” must 
have caused among the Indians! They came to welcome 

Hudson and his men. An 
old chief came on board and 
invited Hudson to visit 
the little village of wig¬ 
wams beside the broad river. 
There these Dutchmen saw 
beautiful meadows, fields of 
corn, and gardens of pump¬ 
kins, grapes, and plums. 

The chief showed Hudson 
his house of bark, and 
spread a feast of roasted 
pigeons and other Indian 
food before him. They even 
broke their bows and arrows 
and then threw them into the fire to prove that they 
meant no harm to the white man. 

The next year 
Hudson sailed in 
an English vessel 
in search of the 
long-wished-for 
passage. On he 
went, far to the 
northward, past 
Iceland and 
Greenland, into 


HENRY HUDSON 

From the painting by Count Pulaski in the 
Alder manic Chamber of the City 
Hall, New York 


the 


INDIANS WELCOMING THE “HALF MOON, “HUDSON’S SHIP 


which bears his name. In this desolate region surrounded 
by fields of ice and snow, Hudson and his men spent a 







Henry Hudson 


45 



fearful winter. In the spring, his angry sailors threw him 
and a few faithful friends into a boat and set them adrift. 
Nothing more was ever heard of them. 

32. Dutch traders and the Indians. Just as soon as 
the news of Hudson’s first voyage reached Holland, the 
Dutch merchants claimed all the region explored and 
hastened to trade with the Indians. In 1614 a trading 
post was established on Manhattan Island which was to 
grow into the 
world’s greatest 
city, New York. 

The Dutchmen 
treated the In¬ 
dians kindly and 
early made a great 
treaty with the 
Iroquois, or Five 
Nations. The 
Indians liked the 
Dutch, who often 
visited them in 
their wigwams and sat around their camp fires. The 
fur trade grew rapidly. The Indians hunted and trapped 
as never before. They paddled their canoes up the Hud¬ 
son, and crossed over to Lakes George and Champlain. 
They went up the Mohawk far beyond where Schenectady 
now is, and plunged deeper into the dark, unbroken 
forests, and even climbed the mountains in search of 
fur-coated animals. Among the favorite fur-bearing 
animals the beaver was first. Besides, the otter, mink, 
and weasel were hunted. 

When the fur pack was made up the dusky hunters 


THE TREATY BETWEEN THE DUTCH AND THE 
INDIANS AT FORT ORANGE 









46 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 




from every direction made their way to the nearest 
trading post. There they traded their furs for guns, 

powder, and ball, 
and for whatever 
else the white trader 
had that pleased 
Indian fancy. Great 
Dutch ships came 
every year to carry 
to Amsterdam and 

THE HOME OF A PATROON Other Dutch CitieS 

The old Van Rensselaer House at Greenbush, New York Cargoes of furS 

33. The settlement of New Netherland. Already a 

great company of Amsterdam merchants were sending 
settlers to the new colony. It now was called New 
Netherland. Peter Minuit, the first governor, bought 
the island of Manhattan from the Indians for twenty-four 
dollars’ worth of glass beads and other trinkets. On it he 
built a town of log 
cabins and named 
it New Amsterdam. 

But settlers did 
not come rapidly 
enough, so the com¬ 
pany offered its 
members large 
tracts of land if 
they would bring 
colonists. The big 
land owners were 
called “patroons.” 


THE SALE OF MANHATTAN TO THE DUTCH 
Peter Minuit, who made the trade with the Indians, is 
known as the founder of New York City 

Each patroon was to govern the 


people on his own land. 














Henry Hudson 


47 


The greatest of the patroons was Van Rensselaer, 
whose plantation in the region of Fort Orange included 


one thousand 
square miles. 
The farmers and 
servants on these 
plantations looked 
upon the patroon 
as being much 
above them in 
authority and 
social position. 



Furniture used by the patroons 


Every year the farmers and their families came with 
their wagons filled with what they had raised to pay the 
patroon for the use of the land. He set them a great 
feast, and there was merrymaking all day long. 

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL 

The Leading Facts, i. Henry Hudson, searching for a 
shorter route to India, discovered the river which now bears 
his name. a. Dutch traders built trading posts, made a 
treaty with the Indians, purchased Manhattan Island and 
built the town of New Amsterdam. 

Study Questions, i. Tell the story of Henry Hudson and 
the “Half Moon.” 2. What was the fate of Hudson? 3. 
When was a trading post planted on Manhattan? 4. Make a 
mental picture of the treaty with the Indians. 5. How does 
the Dutch treatment of the Indians compare with the Spanish ? 
6. What three things did Peter Minuit do? 7. Who were the 
patroons ? 

Suggested Readings. Hudson : Williams, Stories from Early 
New York History , 1-4, 32-36; Wright, Children's Stories in 
American History, 292—299; Griffis, Romance of Discovery, 


2 33-245 

















48 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

FAMOUS PEOPLE IN EARLY VIRGINIA 


JOHN SMITH, THE SAVIOR OF VIRGINIA, AND 
POCAHONTAS, ITS GOOD ANGEL 



34. The first permanent English settlement. Raleigh 
had made it impossible for Englishmen to forget America. 
They sent out ships every year to trade with the Indians. 
In 1606 a great company was formed of London merchants 
and other rich men to plant a colony in Virginia. 

King James gave them a charter, ministers preached 
sermons about Virginia, and poets sang her praises. At 

Christmas time one 
of Raleigh’s old sea 
captains, Newport, 
sailed 
with a 
colony 
of more 
than one 
hundred 
settlers. 
They 

went by way of the West Indies, and the Spaniards, 
although watching, did not dare attack them. 

In the spring, when Virginia was in her gayest dress, the 


THE SITE OF JAMESTOWN 

After a drawing made early in the nineteenth century by an 
English traveler, Catherine C. Ilopley 


ships sailed up Chesapeake Bay into the James River, 
and landed on a peninsula. Here they began to plant 
Jamestown, named in honor of their king. This was the 
first permanent English settlement in the New World. 

d hey first built a fort to protect them from any attacks 
of Indians and Spaniards. But most of the settlers 
wanted to get rich quick, go back to England, and spend 











John Smith and Pocahontas 


49 


the rest of their days in ease. Therefore, instead of 
building comfortable houses and raising something to 
eat, they spent their time in 
searching for gold. 

The result was that most of 
them fell sick and food grew 
scarce. Within a few months 
more than half the settlers were 
dead, and the others were dis¬ 
couraged and homesick. Would 
this colony fail too, as Raleigh’s 
colony had? 

35. John Smith and the 
Indians. There was one man 

JOHN SMITH 

in the colony, however, who From an engraving made by Simon von 
1 ^ Pass, in 1614, on the margin of Smith's 

could make Jamestown a success, map of “New England" in ‘‘A De¬ 
scription of New England." This 

He bore the plain name of John shows him at lhe age °f thirty-seven 

Smith. But he was no common man. He had already 
had many wonderful adventures in other countries. 

The king had made Smith an officer of the new colony, 
but the other officers would not permit him to take part 
in governing Virginia. John Smith was not a man to 
sulk and idle his time away. He resolved to do some¬ 
thing useful, by visiting the Indians, and gathering food 
for the colony. . 

While on an expedition up one of the rivers, Smith’s 
party was attacked by two hundred Indians. He imme¬ 
diately showed the red men his ivory pocket compass. 
They saw the little needle tremble on its pivot, but could 
not touch it. He wrote a letter to Jamestown. An 
Indian returned with the articles asked for in the letter. 
This was still more mysterious than the compass. 









Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

The Indians marched him from one village to another 
to show off their prisoner. This gave Smith a chance to 

learn a great deal 
about the Indians. 
Some of them 
lived in houses 
made of bark and 
branches of trees; 
others had rude 
huts to shelter 
them. Now and 
then a wigwam 
was seen large 
enough to hold 
several families. 

The Indian war¬ 
riors painted their 
bodies to make themselves look fierce. They carried 
bows and arrows and clubs as weapons, for they had no 
guns at that time. The men did the hunting and fight¬ 
ing, but in other things they were lazy. The Indian 
women not only cared for the children and did the cook¬ 
ing, but also gathered wood, tilled the soil, and built the 
wigwams. The Indian wife was the warrior’s drudge. 

36. Pocahontas saves his life.. Smith saw a more 
wonderful sight still, when he was led to the village where 
lived Powhatan. Powhatan, tall and thin, was wrapped 
in a robe of raccoon skins. He sat upon a bench before 
the wigwam fire. His wives sat at his side. Along the 
walls stood a row of women with faces and shoulders 
painted bright red, and with chains of white shells about 
their necks. In front of the women stood Powhatan’s 








John Smith and Pocahontas 


5i 



tierce warriors. This council of Indians was to decide 
the fate of Smith. 

Two big stones were rolled in front of Powhatan, and 
a number of powerful warriors sprang upon Smith, 
dragged him to the stones, , and forced his head upon 
one of them. As the warriors stood, clubs in hand, ready 
to slay Smith, Pocahontas, the beautiful twelve-year-old 
daughter of Powhatan, rushed forward, threw her arms 
around the prisoner, and begged for his life. Pocahontas 
had her way. Powhatan adopted Smith as a son and 
set him to making toys for the little maid. 

After a time Smith 
returned to Jamestown 
only to find the set¬ 
tlers facing starvation, 
and the officers plan¬ 
ning to escape to 
England in the colony’s 
only vessels. He 
promptly arrested the 
leaders and restored 
order. In a few days, 
the hungry settlers saw 
a band of Indians, led 
by Pocahontas, enter 
the fort. They were 
loaded down with bas¬ 
kets of corn. 

The fear of starva¬ 
tion was now gone, 
because every few days the little maiden came with food 
for the settlers. Ever afterward they called her “the 


POCAHONTAS 

After the engraved portrait by Simon van Pass, 
known as the Bootan Hall portrait and 
now at Scalthorpe Hall, Norfolk 












52 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


dear blessed Pocahontas.” She was the good angel of 
the Virginia colony. 

When winter came on, Smith resolved to 
secure another supply of corn. He knew 
that Powhatan’s women had raised plenty of 
corn, and immediately sailed up 
the river to the old chief’s village. 
But Powhatan had noticed the 
increase of settlers and the build¬ 
ing of more houses. He feared 
that his people might be driven 
from their hunting grounds, so he 
bluntly told Smith he could have 
no corn unless he would give a 
good English sword for each bas¬ 
ketful. Smith promptly refused, 
and compelled the Indians to 
carry the corn on board his boat. 
That very night, at the risk of 
her life, Pocahontas stole through the woods to tell Smith 
of her father’s plot to kill his men. They kept close 
watch all night, and next morning sailed safely away. 

37. Smith makes the men work. When spring came 
Smith resolved that the settlers must go to work. He 
called them together and made a speech declaring that 
“he that will not work shall not eat. You shall not 
only gather for yourself, but for those that are sick. 
They shall not starve.” The people in the colony not 
only planted more grain, but repaired the fort and built 
more and better houses. Thus they grew happier and 
more contented and comfortable in their home in the 
Virginia woods. 



AN INDIAN WARRIOR 



John Smith and Pocahontas 


53 


Unfortunately for the colony, Smith was wounded so 
badly by an explosion of gunpowder that he had to return 
to England for medical treatment. The settlers again 
fell into idleness after he left, and many of them died. 
Still the colony had gained such a foothold that it was 
strong enough to live. 

Some years later, Smith sailed to America again, 
explored the coast from Penobscot Bay to Cape Cod, 
drew a map of it, and named the region New England 
This was his last visit to America. 

38. Pocahontas. After John Smith left, Pocahontas 
did not visit the English any more. One day she was 
seized by an Englishman, put on board a vessel, and 
carried weeping to Jamestown. 

Before long an English settler, John Rolfe, fell in love 
with her and she with him. What should they do? Did 
not this beautiful maiden of eighteen years have a strange 
religion? But she 
was anxious to 
learn about the 
white man’s relig¬ 
ion, so the minis¬ 
ter at Jamestown 
baptized her and 
gave her the 
Christian name 
of Rebecca. 

The wedding 
took place in the 
little wooden 
church. No doubt it was made bright with the lovely 
wild flowers of Virginia and all the settlers crowded to 



THE MARRIAGE OF ROLFE AND POCAHONTAS 

After the painting by Henry Brueckner 











54 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

see the strange event. Powhatan gave his consent, but 
would not come to the wedding himself. 

It was a happy day for Jamestown, 
for all the people, white and red, loved 
Pocahontas. The marriage of Poca¬ 
hontas and John Rolfe was taken to 
mean the uniting of the Indians and 
settlers by ties of peace and friendship. 
For several years white men and red 
men lived as good neighbors. Rolfe 
took Pocahontas to England, where she 
was received “as the daughter of a 
king.” The fine people, lords and 
ladies, called on her; and the king and 
queen received the Indian maiden at 
court as if she were a princess of 

the royal blood. 

How different the rich clothes, the carriages, and the 
high feasting from her simple life in the Virginia woods! 
Here, too, she met her old friend, John Smith. He 
called her “Lady Rebecca,” as did everybody. But the 
memories of other days and other scenes arose in her 
mind. She covered her face with her hands for a moment, 
and then said he must call her “child,” and that she 
would call him “father.” Smith must have thought of 
the days when she brought corn to Jamestown to feed 
his starving people. 

When about to sail for her native land, Pocahontas 
died (1617). So ended the life of one who had indeed 
been a good and true friend of the people of Virginia. 
Her name, Pocahontas, meant “bright stream between 
two hills.” 



JAMESTOWN BAPTISMAL 
FONT 

From this font, now in 
Bruton Parish Church, 
Virgihia, it is said Poca¬ 
hontas was baptized 






Miles Standish 


55 


SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL 

The Leading Facts, j. London merchants carried out Ra¬ 
leigh’s idea by planting a colony in Virginia. 2. John Smith 
saved the colony by putting the settlers to work, by trading 
with the Indians, and by winning the friendship of Pocahontas. 

Study Questions. 1. How long did it take Captain Newport 
to reach Virginia? 2. How long does it take a ship to cross the 
Atlantic now? j. Why were the settlers afraid of the Indians 
and Spaniards? 4. Why did the Virginia settlers hunt for 
gold instead of raising something to eat? 5. What did Smith 
learn about the Indians? 6. Show how Pocahontas was a 
friend of the colony. 

Suggested Readings. Smith: McMurry, Pioneers on Land 
and Sea, 68-102; Hart, Source Book, 33-37; Higginson, Ameri¬ 
can Explorers, 231-246. 

SOME OLD-ENGLAND PURITANS 
IN NEW ENGLAND 

MILES STANDISH, THE PILGRIM SOLDIER, AND THE 
STORY OF “PLYMOUTH ROCK” 

39. The Pilgrims. Persecuted for their religion in 
England, the Puritans first went to Holland, where they 
wandered from place to place before settling at Leiden. 
But they saw that they could not keep their own lan¬ 
guage and customs among the Dutch, so they decided 
to go to America and found a colony of their own. Miles 
Standish, William Brewster, and William Bradford were 
to lead the little band that had been chosen to go on the 
long journey. The parting was sad. Eyes were wet, 
and voices were choked with sorrow as the last words 
were spoken before the Pilgrims went on board the 
“Speedwell.” Even the Dutch bystanders shed tears. 

The “Speedwell” carried them across to England, where 
they found the “Mayflower.” Here, too, they found John 


3 


56 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


Alden, a handsome young fellow, who, with some other 
Englishmen, had decided to go to America. This is the 
same John Alden who afterwards won Priscilla from Miles 
Stan dish. 

In August, 1620, the two ships spread their sails for 
America. Twice they were forced to return — once after 
they had sailed three hundred miles—because the 
“Speedwell” was leaking and her captain declared she 
would sink before reaching America. 

Finally the “Mayflower,” with one hundred and two 
Pilgrims on board, started alone. Not many days passed 
before great storms overtook her. The waves rolled 


over her deck and threatened to swallow 



EMBARKATION OF THE PILGRIM FATHERS 

After the original painting by Charles West Cope 


her. For many days the passengers had to spend nearly 
all the time below deck, not knowing what moment would 



















Miles Standish 


57 


be their last. Strained by the storm, the “Mayflower” 
began to leak, but the brave Pilgrims would not turn back. 



THE “MAYFLOWER” AND THE “SPEEDWELL” IN DARTMOUTH HARBOR 
It was to this harbor the Pilgrims returned to repair the leak in the “ Speedwell ” 


ship could not use her sails and was driven far out of her 
course, to the northward. The Pilgrims had intended to 
land near the mouth of the Hudson, but on November 20, 
1620, the little band of exiles found themselves looking 
with glad hearts upon the sandy but heavily wooded 
shores of Cape Cod. How they poured out their hearts 
in gratitude that they had crossed the stormy sea in 
safety! The men all gathered in the little cabin of the 
“Mayflower” to sign the Compact or Agreement in 
regard to the government of the colony. Then they 
elected John Carver their first governor. 

Everybody was now anxious to get on shore. Captain 
Miles Standish, with his little army, waded ashore through 
the ice-cold water and disappeared in the dark forest 

























Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


58 



in search of a good place to plant the colony. For three 
days they tramped through forests, up and down hills, 

and along the sandy 
coast, but found 
no suitable place. 
They found 
springs, however, 
and ponds of fresh 
water, and some 
Indian mounds 
containing stores of 
corn. What should 
they do, take the 
corn,or leave it 
and run the risk of 
starvation ? They 
decided to take 

READING THE COMPACT ON BOARD THE “MAYFLOWER” Only enOUgh tO 

plant in the spring. They afterwards paid the owners 
double for what they had taken. 

Everywhere they saw flocks of wild fowl, good for food, 
and they also saw tracks of wild deer. While Bradford 
was examining an Indian snare set for game, he found 
himself suddenly swinging by one leg in the air. They 
had a hearty laugh and learned a new lesson in the art of 
catching game. 

Twice again Standish led his little company to search 
out a place. On the third trip, as they were at breakfast, 
their ears were suddenly filled with the most fearful 
shouts. A shower of arrows fell near them. It was an 
Indian attack. Captain Standish and his men seized 
their guns and fired as fast as they could. Happily, the 













Miles Standish 


59 


Indians, frightened at the roar of muskets, ran away before 
any one was killed on either side. 

On this trip the Pilgrims found the harbor of Plymouth, 
which John Smith had explored and named several years 
before. Its shore was now to become their home. They 
immediately hastened back to the ship to tell the good 
news, and in a few days the “Mayflower” carried the 
Pilgrims into Plymouth Harbor. The little party landed 
on December 21, 1620, and that day is still celebrated as 
“Forefather’s Day.” The story is that when they landed 

they stepped on a large stone. This stone is called 

\ 

“Plymouth Rock,” and you may see it still when you 
visit Plymouth. 

41. Their home in the forest. Although it was winter, 
the men immediately began to chop down trees and build 
a great log storehouse which could be used for a hospital 
and for worship. 

Then they began building their 
own homes. They cut down'the 
trees, sawed off the logs, hewed 
them roughly, and then dragged 
them by hand to the place where 
the house was to stand. When 
the logs were ready, the men 
lifted them up by hand or when 
the walls grew too high for lift¬ 
ing, they slid them up “skids.” 

The roof was made of boards 
which had been split from logs 

of wood. These were held in 
place by smaller logs. The wind and rain were kept out 

by “chinking” or daubing the cracks between the logs 



MILES STANDISH 

From a portrait now in possession 
of Mrs. A.M. Harrison, Plymouth 



6o 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


with mortar. The windows were few and small, for they 
had no glass and used oiled skins instead. 

This first winter in America was the saddest the Pil¬ 
grims had ever seen. Their storehouse was turned into a 
hospital. They had been used to the gentler winters of 
England and Holland. Before the warm days of spring 
came, one half of the little band had perished, among 
. them Governor Carver. But the Pilgrims had brave 
hearts, and not a man or woman among those left went 
back to England when the “Mayflower” sailed. 

42. Friendship with the Indians. Brave Miles Standish 

/ 

kept his little army—what was left of it — ready for any 
danger. He built a fort on a hill, and mounted the cannon 
brought over in the “Mayflower.” 

But the Indians were not so bad after all, for had it not 
been for them, the Pilgrims would have had a much 
harder time. One day while the leaders were talking 



over military affairs, they 
saw a fine-looking Indian 
coming toward them, and 
calling in the English lan¬ 
guage, “Welcome! Wel¬ 
come !” This was a double 
surprise. The Indian was 
Samoset, who had already 
saved the lives of two 
white men taken by the 
Indians. 


In a few days Samoset 
brought other Indians, 


POUNDING CORN TO MAKE MEAL 


v / 

dressed in deer and panther skins. They made the 
Pilgrims think of gypsies seen in Holland. Their lon<* 









Miles Standish 


61 

black hair was braided and ornamented with feathers 
and foxtails. They sang and danced for the Pilgrims. 

When Samoset 
came again, he 
brought Squanto, an 
Indian who had been 
captured and carried 
to London, and who 
could speak English. 

They gave the news 
that the great Indian 
chief, Massasoit, was 
coming to visit his 
strange neighbors. 

A messenger was sent to welcome him and to give him 
presents. Massasoit and twenty other Indians with¬ 
out bows and arrows were met by Captain Standish 
and escorted into the presence of the governor. There 
both parties agreed not to harm each other, and to be 
friends forever. As long as Massasoit lived this pledge 
was kept. 

Spuauto taught the Pilgrims many new things. He 
showed them how to raise corn and how to pound the 
corn to make meal. He also taught them how to catch 
eels. 

The first summer was now over and the Pilgrims’ first 
harvest had been gathered. Their houses had been 
repaired, and the health of the settlers was good. Fish 
and wild game were plentiful. They decided that the 
time for rejoicing and thanksgiving had also come, and 
invited Massasoit and his warriors to join them in the 
celebration. 


■ xwv 

-vay 

• • ' ■ Jfa - 

:*• ' J* <* ' .. T\ '• 



INDIANS TEACHING THE PILGRIMS HOW TO 
CATCH EELS 




62 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 



GOVERNOR CARVER S 
LAMP 


For three days the games, military movements, feast- 
ings, and rejoicing went on, and at the end the Pilgrims 
and Indians were better friends than before. 
This was the beginning of our custom of having 
a day of thanksgiving each year. 

For a whole year the Pilgrims had not heard 
a word from the great world across the sea. 
How eager they must have been for just one 
word from their old homes! At last 
one day the Indians sent runners to 
tell them that a ship was in sight. 
The cannon on the hilltop boomed. 
Captain Standish and his men ran 
for their guns and stood ready to 
defend the colony against Spaniards or French. But 
it was a ship with news and friends from Leiden and 
England. 

After a few weeks this ship returned to England loaded 
with furs, clapboards, and sassafras to pay those English 
merchants who had furnished the Pilgrims the “May¬ 
flower” to bring them to America. 

Thus the Pilgrims went on year by year, living in peace 
when they could, but fighting when they must. Every 
year or so new settlers caane from their old homes across the 
sea, and the struggling colony grew slowly, but steadily. 

After a fe w years the new king of 
England was so hard upon the Puri¬ 
tans in England that thousands of 
them followed the example of the 
Pilgrims and came to America, and 
planted many other colonies in New 

17 n crl Q A WEDDING SLIPPER WORN BY 

imgiailU. A “Mayflower” bride 




John Winthrop 


63 


JOHN WINTHROP, THE FOUNDER OF BOSTON, AND FIRST 
GOVERNOR OF THE COLONY OF MASSACHUSETTS 

43. The Puritans. While the Pilgrims were living in 
their home on the lonely American shore, the Puritans in 
England were being cruelly 
persecuted by Charles I. So 
great became their sufferings 
and dangers that the Puritan 
leaders decided to go to 
America, where they could 
worship as they pleased. 

Charles I, fortunately, gave 
them a good charter. But 
even before this, some of the 
Puritans had already planted 
a colony at Salem. 

44. John Winthrop. The 
Puritan leaders elected John 
Winthrop governor of the new 
colony. In the spring of 1630, 
nearly ten years after the 
“Mayflower” sailed, seven hundred Puritans, in eleven 
ships, bade good-by to their beautiful English homes, 
crossed-the ocean, and settled where Boston now stands. 

John Winthrop, the leader and governor of the Colony 
of Massachusetts Bay, the name given to the Salem and 
Boston settlements, was then about forty years old, and 
had been in college at Cambridge, in England. He was 
a man of high social position and noble qualities. 

The Puritans who came with him were people of prop¬ 
erty. When they came to America, they gave up lives 
of comfort for lives of hardship. Only brave men and 



JOHN WINTHROP 

From a portrait painted by John 
Singleton Copley; reproduced by 
permission of the trustees 
of Harvard University 












64 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


women act in this way. But no one among them gave 
up more or was willing to suffer more than their leader. 

T h e people 
elected him 
governor almost 
every year until 
his death in 1649. 

While Winthrop 
was ruling the col¬ 
ony, many set¬ 
tlers came and 
settled other 
towns around 
Boston. But they 
did not always 
agree in religion 
and government, and other colonies were founded on the 
Atlantic seaboard where the settlers had more religious 
freedom than the Puritans allowed. 

SUGGESTION'S INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL 

The Leading Facts. /. The Puritans first migrated to Hol¬ 
land to gain religious freedom. 2. Later they went to America, 
planted the colony of Plymouth, made peace with the Indians, 
and worshiped in their own way. j. Winthrop founded the 
Massachusetts Bay Colony and was its governor. 

Study Questions. /. Why did the Pilgrims decide to leave 
England? 2. What new danger threatened them in Holland? 
j. 1 ell the story of Miles Standish. 4 Why do Americans love 
the Pilgrims? 5. dell about John Winthrop and the Puritans. 

Suggested Readings. Pilgrims: Hart, Colonial Children, 
136-140, j 77-182; Glascock, Stories of Columbia, 69- 81; Pratt, 
Early Colonies, n3- 123 ; Drake, Making of Hew England, 67-87. 

Puritans (John Winthrop): Hart, Colonial Children, 136- 
140; I>rake, Making of New England, 149-186; Hart, Source 
Book, 45-48; Higginson, American Explorers, 341-361. 




nt h 

HAMPSHIRE 


VASSAS- .SETTS 
BAY COLONY 



Cap*- Cod 

Connecticut P!y>r c, jv, y . 

$ " r ;V \i jH < Pro . der.'.e, '* 0 07V 

^ '//etre-r %ld rh 

NEW HAVE NT y" 


A TLA XTIC 
OCEAN 




THE NEW ENGLAND SETTLEMENTS 






Peter bin vie sen:: 


65 


THE MEN WHO PLANTED COLONIES FOR 
MANY KINDS OF PEOPLE 

PETER STUYVESAXT, THE GREAT DUTCH GOVERNOR 

45. Stuyvesant becomes governor. This sturdy son 
of Holland was born at a time when his country was 
fighting hard 


against Spain for 
independence. 

His father was a 
minister, who, it 
may be supposed, 
brought up young 
Peter after the 
strict manner of 
the Dutch. 

Peter early 
began to study 
Latin. He was 
vain of his know¬ 
ledge, and later 
took pride in 
showing on his 
Latin to the 
settlers of New 
Amsterdam. 

When he left 
school young 
Peter joined the 
army, where he 
found plenty of hard work. He performed the 
duties of a soldier quicker and better than some of his 



PHHB •SSSy ^ 

\e.> Arr5terc%ii2 * 




* 4 ^ .. 

: 

For 

s: -i 



A TL A XT/C 


OCEAX 


dvtck ^miDiTNTf 




66 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

comrades, and in a few years was given - command 
over a growing Dutch colony in the West Indies. 

In* a fierce assault on a 
Portuguese fort Stuyvesant 
lost a leg and had to return 
to Holland. As soon as he 
was well the Dutch India 
Company sent him to New 
Nether land to save that 
colony from the Indians. 

The arrival of Stuyve¬ 
sant, with his little army 
and fleet of four vessels, 
brought great joy to the 
discouraged settlers and fur 
traders. He said to the 
people: ‘‘I shall reign over 
you as a father over his 
ruled the colony far more 
like a king than a father. He was not only commander 
in chief of the army, but was also lawmaker, judge, and 
governor, all in one. 

46. Rules with a firm hand. The new laws made by 
Stuyvesant showed that he intended to keep order in 
New Netherland. He forbade Sabbath-breaking, drunken¬ 
ness, the sale of drink to the Indians, and to any one 
else after the nine o’clock bell had rung. He ordered 
the owners of all vacant lots in New Amsterdam to 
improve them, and tried to fix the location of all new 
buildings. He taxed traders, whether they shipped goods 
to Europe or brought goods into New Netherland. 

Stuyvesant did, indeed, restore order to the colony, 



PETER STUYVESANT 

From a seventeenth-century portrait at pres¬ 
ent in the collection of the New York 
Historical Society 


children.” But Stuyvesant 




Peter Stuyvesant 


67 


but he stirred up the people until they demanded a 
voice in the government. He finally agreed that they 
might select nine of their wisest men to advise with him. 
They were called the Council. He had no idea of fol¬ 
lowing anybody’s advice unless it agreed with his own 
notions, but the people had gained something. 

At the same time Stuyvesant was just as busy with his 
neighbors’ affairs. He quarreled with the English in New 
England, as well as with the patroons in his own colony. 

Stuyvesant claimed all the region now included in New 
Jersey, a large part of that in the states of New York, 
Delaware, and Pennsylvania, and also a part of the 
territory of New England. 

The colony grew in numbers. New towns sprang up 
along the Hudson and on Long Island. But the increase 
in the- number of towns only made the call for a govern¬ 
ment by the people still louder. 

47. Surrenders to English. For several years the 
dispute between the people and the governor went on 
until, one day in 1664, news came that a fleet of English 
war vessels was in sight. Although England and Holland 



A VIEW OF THE CITY AND HARBOR OF NEW AMSTERDAM (NEW YORK), 1656 










68 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 



were at peace, the English king had given New Nether- 
land to his brother, the duke of York, and the English 

fleet had come to 
take it for the duke. 

Governor Stuyve- 
sant was resolved to 
defend the colony to 
the last. But he 
was surprised to find 
that his people were 
not willing to fight 
for a governor who 
a dutch soldier had given them so 



little share in governing themselves. 

The commander of the fleet sent a letter to Stuyvesant 
offering very favorable terms of surrender. The Council 
wanted the governor to surrender, but he grew angry, 
tore the letter to pieces, and declared he would never 
give up. The 
Council put the 
pieces of the 
letter together 
and read it to the 
people. The 
minister of his 
own church beg¬ 
ged the governor 
not to fight, and 

leading Citizens a dutch cottage and street scene in 

and mothers with NEVV M)RK ’ 10/9 


their children pleaded with Stuyvesant to surrender to the 
English. Now what could the brave old Dutchman do? 














William Penn 


69 


He could not fight a whole fleet alone. He turned sadly 
away, saying, “I would rather go to my grave than to 
surrender' the city.” 

48. New Netherland becomes New York. The English 
took possession, and the colony of New Netherland 
became the colony of New York. At the same time 
New Amsterdam became the town of New York and 
Fort Orange became Albany. English governors came 
to rule instead of Dutch governors. A few years later 
a Dutch fleet recaptured the colony; but, by a treaty 
at the close of the war, Holland returned it to England. 
When William and Mary came to the throne of England 
(1689) they gave New York a Representative Assembly. 

Although Dutch rule was gone forever, the Dutch 
people and Dutch ideas and customs remained. Peter 
Stuyvesant himself had become so attached to the colony 
that he came back from Holland and spent his remaining 
years on his great farm, or bowery, as the Dutch called it. 

WILLIAM PENN, THE QUAKER, WHO FOUNDED THE 

“city of brotherly love” 

49. William Penn. One day Thomas Loe, a Quaker 
preacher, ventured into the old university town of Oxford. 
He declared that all men were equal, and he refused to 
recognize rank or title. He taught men to live and 
worship in a very simple way. 

A few students believed his teachings and resolved to 
become Quakers. Among them was William Penn, the son 
of a great naval officer, Admiral Penn. What a buzzing 
there was in that old college town when the news spread 
that William Penn, the fine scholar, the skilled oarsman, 
and all-round athlete, had become a Quaker! 


70 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 



Some of his comrades would not believe it. But when 
they saw him put off the cap and gown of his college, 
which some of the greatest men in English history had 
worn with pride, and put on the plain garb of the Quakers, 
they gave up. 

The stern old admiral disapproved of what his son had 
done. But William resolutely refused to give up his 
Quaker views, and the admiral decided to try the plan 
of sending him to Paris, where life was as un-Quaker- 
like as it could be. 

William Penn himself looked little like a Quaker. He 

was then eighteen 
years old, fine look¬ 
ing, with large eyes 
and long, dark, curly 
hair reaching to his 
shoulders. 

Young Penn, 
however, did not 
entirely waste his 
time in the gay life 
of Paris. He at¬ 
tended school and 
traveled in Italy. 
At the end of two 
years he came back. 

It was not long 
before the admiral 
again saw Quaker 
signs in his son and 
hastened him off to Ireland to cure him entirely. But who 
should be preaching in Ireland but Thomas Loe! William 


WILLIAM PENN 

At the age of 22, from a fainting in the rooms of the 
Historical Society of Pennsylvania, presented by his 
grandson, Granville Penn of Stoke Poges 





William Penn 


7i 


went to hear his old preacher, and this time became a 
Quaker forever. No suffering was great enough to cause 



THE MEETING BETWEEN WILLIAM PENN AND KING CHARLES 


him ever again to waver, although fines were heaped on 
him and at four different times he was thrown into foul jails. 

Penn’s family now felt the disgrace very keenly, but 
his father promised to forgive him if he would take off 
his hat to the king, to the king’s brother, and to his 
father. One day, the story goes, King Charles, the 
merry monarch, met William Penn and others. All hats 
were promptly removed except the king’s and Penn’s. 
Presently the king, too, removed his hat. Whereupon, 
Penn said: “Friend Charles, why dost thou remove 
thy hat?” The king replied: “Because, wherever I 
am, it is customary for but one to remain covered.” 

When William Penn was twenty-six years old, his 
father died. William then came into possession of a 
fortune. Once more he stood “where the roads parted.” 
















































72 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 



He could now be a great man and play the part of a fine 
English gentleman who would always be welcome at 

court, or he could remain a Quaker. 
He resolved to stand by his Quaker 
comrades and devote his fortune and 
his life to giving them relief. 

50. The founding of Pennsylvania. 
King Charles II owed Penn’s father 
about eighty thousand dollars. 
William Penn asked him to pay it 
in American land. Charles was only 
A weather vane too glad to grant this request of the 

“^shTJhhhZayte'wini 10 son of his old sea captain. The land 
«nghi blow h e gave to Penn is the present great 

state of Pennsylvania. Penn wanted the colony called 
“ Sylvania,” meaning “woodland,” but the king declared it 
should be called Pennsylvania in memory of Admiral Penn. 

By means of letters and pamphlets Penn sent word to 
the Quakers throughout Eng¬ 
land, Scotland, and Ireland. He 
told them of Quaker homes across 
the sea, where jails would not 
trouble them. 

Penn even visited Europe and 
told the persecuted and op¬ 
pressed about the new colony 
where every sort of Christian 
was to find a hearty welcome, 
and where no one was to be 
punished for religion’s sake. 

Hundreds of settlers hastened to the new colony. 
When Penn reached Newcastle on the Delaware in the 



A QUAKER 



















William Penn 


73 


fall of the year 1682 he met a hearty welcome from scores 
of happy people who were already enjoying their long- 
wished-for religious freedom. 



WILLIAM PENN’S TREATY WITH THE INDIANS 

After the painting by Benjamin West, which hangs in lndepeyidence Hall, Philadelphia 

One of Penn’s first acts was to call a meeting of the 
colonists to talk over their government. This pleased 
the people greatly, for he gave them land for their houses 
and farms, also the right to choose their own rulers and 
to make their own laws. 

Penn next turned his attention to founding the great 
Quaker city to which he gave the name “Philadelphia,” 
which means brotherly love and expresses Penn’s feeling 
toward other men. Philadelphia grew faster than the 
other colonial towns, and soon led them all. 

William Penn won the love and the respect of the 
Indians of Pennsylvania. He visited them in their own 
towns and ate with them. He even took part in their 
















74 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


athletic games and outran them all. He believed that they 
should be paid for their lands. Accordingly, he made rich 
gifts and entered into solemn treaties with the chiefs. 

At a treaty under a great elm tree on the banks of the 
Delaware, Penn said to the Indians: “We are the same 
as if one man’s body were divided into two parts: We 
are all one flesh and one blood.” In return the Indians 
said: “We will live in love with William Penn and his 
children as long as the moon and the sun shall endure.” 
If the Indians admired a white man they said: “He is 
like William Penn.” 

The news of the establishment of free government and 
free religious worship brought crowds of settlers from 
Germany. Hundreds of German families in the valleys 
, of the Rhine and the Neckar escaped to “Penn’s Woods,” 
and there their children’s children are to be found today 
under the name of the “Pennsylvania Dutch.” Without 
boasting, William Penn could say that no other one man, 
at his own expense, had planted so great a colony in the 
wilds of America as he had. Few nobler men ever lived 
than William Penn. He died July 30, 1718. 

JAMES OGLETHORPE, THE FOUNDER OF GEORGIA AS A 
HOME FOR ENGLISH DEBTORS, AS A PLACE FOR 
PERSECUTED PROTESTANTS, AND AS A 
BARRIER AGAINST THE SPANIARDS 

51. A friend of the unfortunate. James Oglethorpe 

was an Englishman. At an early age he went to Oxford 
to study, but he was drawn away from college by the 
clash of arms. Oglethorpe was a soldier for many years. 
Later he became a member of Parliament. 

A friend of Oglethorpe died in a debtors’ prison. 

1 


James Oglethorpe 


75 


This aroused his sympathies for the poor. He examined 
English jails, and found them so dirty and dark and 
damp that strong¬ 
bodied men, to say 
nothing of women 
and children, soon 
sickened and died in 
them. Besides, he 
found that the jailers 
were often bad men, 
who whipped the 
prisoners on their 
bare backs and stole 
their food. 

The prison was a 
poor place for a man 
in debt, anyway. 

How could a man 

pay his debts while JAMES EDWARD OGLETHORPE 

h i i • From an original portrait painted by Simon Francois 

e W aS SnU l up 1 n Ravenet, from a mezzotint by Burford in the 
. print room at the British Museum 

prison r 

Oglethorpe, like many other noble men before him, 
thought of America as a place of refuge for the unfor¬ 
tunate. King George II gave him a charter for the 
land between the Savannah and the Altamaha rivers, and 
made his heart glad by declaring that all Protestants 
should be tolerated there. 

When the debtors heard the news that Oglethorpe 
was to plant a colony for them there was great excite¬ 
ment. But he carefully selected his settlers, so that no 
lazy man might be found among them. Arms and tools 
for work on the farms were given to the settlers. 








76 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 



When the time came, thirty families were ready to 
sail. Oglethorpe carried them direct to Charleston, 
South Carolina. When they landed, in 1733, the people 
of Charleston were only too glad to have a colony south 
of them as a “ buffer’ ’ against the Spaniards who occupied 
Florida, and who had already attacked South Carolina. 

Therefore, to give the new colony a good start, the 
people of Charleston presented the settlers with one 
hundred head of cattle, a drove of hogs, and fifteen or 
twenty barrels of rice. Rejoicing in their new supplies, 
the colony sailed to the Savannah River, and not far 
from its mouth, on a beautiful bluff, Oglethorpe marked 
out the streets of the new city. The settlers went to 
work with a will, cutting down trees and making them into 
cabins. They soon had homes that were comfortable, 
although different from what they had known in England. 

Soon other colonists came to Savannah. Among these 
was a company of Italians who hadcome to raise the 

silkworm and to 
manufacture silk. 

In the next year 
after Oglethorpe 
planted the settle¬ 
ment a band of 
sturdy German 
Protestants ar¬ 
rived. These 
settlers built their 
homes above 
Savannah, and 
called the colony ‘ ‘ Ebenezer, ’ ’ which means ‘ ‘ the Lord hath 
helped us. ” Between these two settlements a band of pious 


OGLETHORPE SURVEYING THE SITE OF SAVANNAH 







James Oglethorpe 


77 



Moravian immigrants founded a colony. Then followed 
the settlement of Augusta, far up the Savannah River and 
well out among the Indians, 
which served as a sort of outpost. 

To these was added a colony 
on the Altamaha River. This 
colony was settled by a company 
of Highlanders from Scotland. 

In the meantime, Oglethorpe 
had gone to England, but he 
soon returned with more than 

two hundred English immigrants, oglethorpe’s stronghold 

who PArnP 1"0 (Spotcij^ tn ppUp-r standing on a bold rocky bluff overlook- 
W11U Celine ueui glcl lU uemei ing a beautiful bay, it guarded the 

their condition. With these entrance to Frederica 

immigrants came John and Charles Wesley, deeply 
religious men who were soon to awake all England 
with a revival of religion. 

While in England, Oglethorpe was made a colonel. 
He saw that trouble with Spain must soon come. From 
the beginning of the settlement of Georgia, Oglethorpe 
had been careful to treat the Indians well. He had 
made treaties with them and had paid them for their 
lands. He now went to visit the Creek and the Cherokee 
Indians. 

On an island at the mouth of the Altamaha, Oglethorpe 
planted a town to serve as an outpost against the Span¬ 
iards. He fortified it, and made it very strong. This 
town was called Frederica. 

In 1742 a Spanish fleet of fifty-one vessels and five 
thousand men attacked Frederica. Oglethorpe beat them 
off, and thereafter the Spaniards left Georgia in peace. 
He went back to England and became a general. 




7 $ 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL 

The Leading Facts, i. Peter Stuyvesant was sent out by 
the Dutch West India Company as governor of New York. 
2 He gave the people little power, 3. The Council surrendered 
the colony to the English against the will of Stuyvesant. 4. 
New Netherland became the colony of New York. 5. The 
Dutch kept up their native customs. 

6 . William Penn became a Quaker while a student at Oxford. 
7. He founded a colony in America on a tract of land given to 
him in payment of the king’s debt to his father. 8. Penn gave 
the colonists the right to choose their own rulers and to make 
their own laws. g. He made friends with the Indians. 10. He 
founded Philadelphia. 

11. Oglethorpe determined to do something for the unfor¬ 
tunates shut up in jail for debt. 12. He obtained a charter 
from the king for some land in Georgia. 13. The town was 
built near the mouth of the Savannah River. 14. Oglethorpe 
built Frederica to keep back the Spaniards. 

Study Questions, i. Tell the story of Peter Stuyvesant’s 
early life. 2. What reforms did Stuyvesant make? 3. What 
part did the nine men play in the government? 4. Why were 
the people glad when the English fleet came? 5. What did 
William and Mary do for the colony? 

6. Why should the students at Oxford be surprised to hear 
that William Penn had turned Quaker? 7. Why did his father 
drive him from home? 8. When did Penn become a Quaker 
forever? g. What was his noble resolution? 10. How did 
Penn come into possession of Pennsylvania? 11. Prove that 
he was a generous man. 12 . Why did he call his town the 
“city of brotherly love’’? 

13. Tell the story of Oglethorpe. 14. Why did Charleston 
help Oglethorpe’s colony? 15. Why did he build Frederica? 

Suggested Readings. Stuyvesant: Williams, Stories from 
Early New York History , 21-32; Smith and Dutton, The 
Colonies , 189-202. 

Penn: Pratt, Early Colonies , 158-165; Hart, Colonial Chil¬ 
dren, 144-148; Dixon, William Penn, 11-273. 

Oglethorpe: Smith and Dutton, The Colonies , 78-89; 
Pratt, Early Colonies, 173-176; Hart, Source Book, 71-73; 
Cooper, James Oglethorpe. 


La Salle 


79 


THREE GREAT FRENCHMEN WHO CARRIED 
THE FLAG OF FRANCE DOWN THE 
MISSISSIPPI AND ALONG THE 
GULF COAST 

ROBERT DE LA SALLE, WHO PUSHED FORWARD THE 
WORK OF EXPLORING THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY 

52. Governor at Frontenac. Two Frenchmen, Joliet 
and Marquette, had gone part of the way down the great 
Mississippi River. Now another Frenchman set out to 
complete their journey. La Salle belonged to a rich 
French family, and had left home at the age of twenty- 
three (1666) for the wild life in the American forests. 

He first built a fort-like post just above Montreal and 
named it Lachine, because he supposed it was located 
on the route to China. In 1673 he helped build Fort 
Frontenac where the Canadian 
city of Kingston now stands. 

La Salle returned home, 
and the king received him 
with honor and made him ! l 
governor of the region around 
Fort Frontenac. He came 
back and built a great stone 
fort. Settlers arrived and 
began to build their cabins 
around it, making a little 
frontier village. 

Here the fur trader came D J , _ 

Reproduced from a design based on an 

each season with his pack; old engraving 

here the faithful missionary said good-by before plunging 

into the unknown wilderness, perhaps never to return. 



8 o 


Elementary History: Stones of Heroism 



Full s of 


GULF OF 
MEXICO 


ROUTES OF THE FRENCH MISSIONARIES 
AND TRADERS WHO EXPLORED THE 
MISSISSIPPI VALLEY 


La Salle 
was growing 
rich, but he 
longed to 
make good 
his country’s 
right to the 
Mississippi 
Valley with 
its richer 
soil and 
milder cli¬ 
mate. Once 
more he 
returned to 
France, and the king gave him permis¬ 
sion to explore the great valley and to 
build forts along the way. 

53. The first ship on the lakes. 
La Salle came back bringing with him 
sailors and carpenters, as well as sup- 
lies such as anchors and cables, for he 
intended to build a ship for use on the 
Lakes. But best of all, he brought, Tonti 
his faithful Italian helper and friend. 
Hennepin, the missionary, carried an 
altar so made that he could strap it 
on his back and set it up for worship 
wherever he chose. 

La Salle had resolved to build his first 
fort at the mouth of the Niagara River, 
but the Iroquois permitted him to build 

































La Salle 


81 


only a large storehouse. They were greatly displeased 
when he set about building a ship above Niagara to sail 
the Great Lakes to the west, and threatened to burn it. 

When the new ship, the “Griffin,” was ready to sail, 
her builders towed her up the Niagara River and then 
into Lake Erie. There was great rejoicing, when, amid 
the firing of cannon and the singing of songs, she spread 
her sails, the first to whiten the waters of Lake Erie. 

On they sailed, through sunshine and storm, up Lake 
Huron until the mission town where Marquette was 
buried came into view. When the “Griffin” fired her 
cannon, all was astir in that town of fur traders, mis¬ 
sionaries, and Indians. La Salle’s men landed with great 
show. They marched to the little chapel and knelt 
before the altar. 



FRENCH FUR TRADERS BARTERING WITH THE INDIANS 













82 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

La Salle then sailed through the straits and to the 
head of Green Bay, where some of his men, sent out 

many months 
before, had col¬ 
lected a great 
quantity of furs. 
Laden with these, 
the “Griffin” 
sailed for the 
storehouse on 
the Niagara, but 
La Salle never saw 
again this first 
ship of the lakes. 
54. Exploring 
the Mississippi Valley. La Salle and his friends spent 
months exploring the lake shores and the streams that 
flowed into the lakes. But La Salle’s heart was set 
on tracing the great Mississippi River to its mouth. 
So he, with Tonti, returned to Fort Frontenac, collected 
supplies, and was soon crossing the portage between the 
Chicago and Illinois rivers. On the Illinois River they saw 
Starved Rock, a high bluff renowned in Indian history. 
On they went until in February their canoes floated out 
upon the bosom of the “Father of Waters” (1682). 

Down the river they floated, passing the Missouri, the 
Ohio, and the Arkansas, where Joliet and Marquette had 
turned back. With the kindly help of new guides, they 
passed on until they found the Mississippi branching into 
three streams. La Salle divided his party, and each took 
a stream to the Gulf. 

On shore, just above the mouth, a cross was raised and 
La Salle took possession of all the country he had explored 



STARVED ROCK ON THE ILLINOIS RIVER 

Many interesting Indian legends are connected with this rock, 
part of a region which may soon be ynade into a stale park 




La Salic 


83 


“in the name of Louis the Great, king of France.” The 
company shouted, “Long live the king!” La Salle’s first 
great object had been accomplished. 

La Salle’s next step was to return to France and ask the 
king to plant a colony of Frenchmen at the mouth of the 
Mississippi River. The king agreed, and La Salle set 
sail for the Gulf of Mexico with a fleet of four ships and a 
colony of more than one hundred and fifty persons (1684). 
He missed the Mississippi and landed at Matagorda Bay 
in Texas. The colonists blamed La Salle. He tried in 
vain to find the Mississippi. 

Suffering and discontent increased until a party of 
La Salle’s men lay in ambush and shot him, and left his 
body in the woods. 

More than a year 
went by before 
the faithful Tonti 
heard of the sad 
fate of the great 
leader. 

The French king 
refused to send aid 
to the starving 
colonists in Texas, 
but the brave and 
heroic Tonti, though 
saddened by the 
death of La Salle, 
resolved to rescue 
them. His rescuing 
party suffered awful hardships. They deserted Tonti on 
the lower Mississippi, and he was at last forced to return 
to Starved Rock, 



LA SALLE AT THE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI 












84 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


IBERVILLE AND BIENVILLE CARRY ON LA SALLE’S 
WORK AND FOUND TWO'CITIES 

55. A new expedition starts. There was something 
heroic about La Salle. His bold deeds stirred the ambi¬ 
tion of the French. They resolved to carry out his plans. 
They would plant settlements along the Mississippi 
River. Its great valley should belong to France. 

In October, 1698, a company of two hundred eager 
Frenchmen set sail from the home country. In command 
was Pierre Le Moyne, better known by his other name, 
Iberville. He was thirty-eight years old, bold and rest¬ 
less, a worthy follower of La Salle. With him was his 
young brother, Jean Baptiste, who is also usually called 
by his other name, Bienville. 

56. They reach the Mississippi. After a long voyage 
they reached what was later known as Mobile Bay. 
Not far away must be the great Mississippi. So they 

set sail in search of it. In 
time they found a river 
pouring its muddy waters 
far out into the blue sea. 
Was this the Mississippi? 
In their eagerness to find 
out they pulled their small 
boats against the mighty cur¬ 
rent for two hundred miles. 
Benioes, an Indian, met them 
and handed them a letter 
from Tonti. Fourteen years 
before Tonti had come down 
the river searching for La Salle and had left the note 
for him. Now they felt they were the true followers 




Iberville and Bienville 


85 

of the great man and that this was indeed the “Father 
of Waters.” 

57. Mobile is founded. 

For his colony Iberville first 
chose a spot on the shores of 
Biloxi Bay. Here in 1699 
they built a fort. Later 
Iberville made up his mind to 
find a better location. He 
selected a high bluff on the 
Mobile River near its mouth. 

Big ships could lie safe in the 
river, and boats could go for 
miles up the stream trading 
with the Indians. In 1702 
the settlement was moved to 
this hill by the river. Here Fort Louis was built. Eight 
years later (1710) the settlement was moved a little 
farther down the river. This was the beginning of the 
city of Mobile, the early capital of the French colony. 

58. Bienville founds New Orleans. When the party 
first sailed up the Mississippi, young Bienville looked at 
the place where New Orleans now stands and said to 
himself: “There ought to be a town here.” He did not 
forget the spot where the waters of Lake Pontchartrain 
come so near the great river. The French must build 
a town here if they wished to control the Mississippi 
Valley. British traders were already pushing westward 
from South Carolina and Georgia. One of their vessels 
had sailed some distance up the river. When Bienville 
became governor of the colony he determined to carry 
out his plan. In 1718 he founded New Orleans on the 



DE IBERVILLE 


86 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


curve of the great river. Hence it is called the ‘ ‘ Crescent 
City.” It in turn became the capital of the colony. 
Later it grew to be one of the greatest of the American 
cities. 


SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL 

The Leading Facts, i. La Salle was sent to complete the 
exploration of the Mississippi. 2. La Salle made his way to 
the Gulf of Mexico. 

3. Iberville and Bienville wished to plant French settlements 
near the mouth of the Mississippi, to hold its great valley for 
France. 4. Iberville founded Mobile, and Bienville, when he 
succeeded his brother as governor of the colony, founded 
New Orleans. 5. The founding of Mobile and New Orleans 
make clear France’s plan to establish a new France in 
America. 

Study Questions. 1. Why was La Salle not satisfied merely 
to get rich? 2. Describe the first voyage on the lakes. 3. 
Find on the map the places named. 4. How did La Salle reach 
the Mississippi? 5. Picture Tonti’s fort on Starved Rock. 
6. Tell the story of the fate of La Salle. 

7. How did Iberville and Bienville set out to reach the 
Mississippi? 8. Why may we think of them as the successors 
of La Salle? g. Tell how the chief seaport of Alabama came 
to be located where it is now. 10. Why is New Orleans called 
the “Crescent City”? 11. Why did Bienville choose this site 
to start a settlement? 12. How did it help New France to 
occupy the mouth of the Mississippi? 

Suggested Readings. La Salle : Wright, Children's Stories 
in American History , 316-330; Pratt, Later Colonial Period , 
1-28. 

Iberville and Bienville: Hamilton, Mobile: under hive 
Flags. 


George Washington 87 

GEORGE WASHINGTON, THE FIRST GENERAL 
AND THE FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE 

UNITED STATES 

THE “FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY” 

59. George Washington as a boy. When Washington 
was born, February 22, 1732, in the old colony of Virginia, 
the early settlements had grown into towns, and planters 
had prospered. His father’s house stood upon a gentle 
hill slope which ran down to the softly flowing Potomac. 

When George was eleven years old, his father died. 
His older brother, Lawrence, received the beautiful 
plantation on the Potomac. He named it Mount Vernon 
in honor of Admiral Vernon, an English naval com¬ 
mander under whom he had fought in the West Indies. 

To George fell a smaller plantation. He could hardly 
hope to go to 
England to study, 
but went to a 
school near his 
birthplace. Here 
he studied hard, 
mastering mathe¬ 
matics and busi¬ 
ness papers of all 
sorts. The book 
into which he 
copied business 
letters and papers 
shows how careful he was. He liked to study surveying, 
and became skillful at it. He could mark off the bound¬ 
aries of farms and lay out roads. 



THE BOYHOOD HOME OF WASHINGTON 

Here on Ihe site of the farmhouse, a slope on the river bank, 
stands the first monument erected to Washington, the brie k 
from the great chimney forming its foundation 


4 







88 Elementary History: Storiesjof Heroism 

As a boy George Washington also learned many useful 
things outside of school. He became a skillful horseback 
rider, for every Virginia plantation had fine 
riding houses. People lived so far apart that 
they had to ride horseback when they visited 
one another and when they went to church 
or to town. 

Even while a boy Washington was learning 
the ways of a woodsman. With only a gun 
and a dog for companions, he made long 
trips into the forests, where no road or 
path showed the way. He could cross 
rivers without bridge or boat, could build a 
shelter at night, could trap, and shoot, and 
cook over an open fire. All this knowledge 
was soon put to use. 

George was 
often at Mount 
Vernon, where he met 
many fine people. Among 
these visitors he admired 
most an old English noble¬ 
man, Lord Fairfax, who had <, 
come to spend the rest of his 
days beyond the Blue Ridge 
in the beautiful valley of 
the Shenandoah. 

60. Washington as surveyor. 

Lord Fairfax was pleased with 
Washington, who was then Washington AS A woodsman 

tall, strong, active, and manly looking, although but 
sixteen years old. Lord Fairfax decided to put young 




WASHINGTON’S 

SURVEYING 

INSTRUMENTS 
































George Washington 


89 



WASHINGTON SURVEYING LORD FAIRFAX’S 
LANDS 


Washington in charge of surveying some of the wild lands 
which he owned across the mountains. Accordingly, one 
spring Washington, with 
a number of companions, 
started out. 

The trip was full of 
danger. There were no 
roads, bridges, or houses 
after the party reached 
the mountains; but deep 
rivers, wild animals, and 
savage Indians were 
plentiful. Some nights 
they slept in rude huts, 
other nights in tents, but 
more often under the stars. One night they saw a 
party of Indians dance their wild war dance to the 
music of a rude drum, made by stretching a hide over a 
pot, and to the noise of a rattle, made by putting shot 
in a gourd. 

Within a month Washington was back with maps and 
figures showing just what lands belonged to Lord Fairfax. 
Other work came quickly. For three years Washington 
was hard at work in that western wilderness marking out 
the boundary lines of the settlers’ lands. It was a rough 
but health-giving life and made bones and muscles strong. 

61. Washington as a soldier against the French. 
Suddenly Washington’s whole life was changed. His 
brother Lawrence died and left to George the care of his 
only daughter and the beautiful Mount Vernon home. 
At the age of twenty Washington found himself at the 
head of two large plantations. But he had hardly begun 













go 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


his new duties when he was called to serve his governor 



and the king. 

The French in 
Canada were 
building a chain 
of forts from Lake 
Erie to the Ohio 
River. Governor 
Dinwiddie of 
Virginia had sent 
orders for them 
to get out of the 
country, but his 
messenger did not 
get within a hun¬ 
dred miles of the 

THE SURVEYING PARTY AT AN INDIAN WAR DANCE French soldiers. 

It was probably Lord Fairfax who said to the governor: 
“Here is the very man for you; young and daring, but 
sober minded and responsible, who only lacks oppor¬ 
tunity to show the stuff that is in him.” 

In October, 1753, Washington, not yet twenty-two, 
set out with servants, horses, and two companions for 
the French posts. One companion was the old Dutch 
soldier who had taught Washington to use the sword, 
and the other was the famous backwoodsman, Christopher 
Gist. They pushed on through deep forests, over the 
mountains, across swift rivers, to the Indian village 
near where Pittsburgh stands. From there Washington 
hurried on to the fort on French Creek. 

The French commander received him with great polite¬ 
ness, and tried to keep him many days. But Washington 

























George Washington 


9 i 


saw that the French were really preparing to fight to 
hold this “gateway to the West.” 

The Frenchmen very politely said that they intended to 
hold that region at all hazard. Washington and his party 
at once started back to Williamsburg with the answer. 

War now seemed certain, and the governor hurried 
Washington forward with about one hundred and fifty 
men to cut a road through the forests and over the moun¬ 
tains. But the French had already reached and built 
Fort Duquesne, where the Ohio is formed, and were then 
hurrying forward a party to look for the English. Just 
after Washington’s men crossed the mountains they sur¬ 
prised the French scouts, killed their commander, and 
took the others prisoners. Young Washington wrote 



GREENWAY COURT, THE VIRGINIA HOME OF LORD FAIRFAX 


Surmounting the broad, sweeping roof, pierced by dormer windows, were two belfries, doubtless 
designed for bells to call the settlers together when an Indian uprising was feared 

home that he had heard the whistle of bullets and liked 
the music. 








92 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


Although Washington’s company soon grew to three 
hundred and fifty men, he could go no farther, for a French 
force numbering several times his own was now close upon 
him. A battle followed. Standing knee deep in mud 
and water, the English fired all day at the hidden foe. 
Their ammunition was about gone, and their men were 
falling. Washington surrendered the fort, and the little 
army, with sad hearts, started home along their newly 
made road. 

62. Washington and Braddock. But these were stir¬ 
ring times in Virginia, for an English general, Braddock, 
had come up the Potomac; and soldiers, cannon, and 
supplies were passing right by the doors of Mount Vernon. 
Every day Washington looked upon the king’s soldiers, 
and saw the flash of sword and bayonet. How could he 
keep out of it ? General Braddock liked the young 

Virginian, and made him 
an officer on his staff. 

The army, over two 
thousand strong, slowly 
crossed the mountains, 
and by July had almost 
reached Fort Duquesne. 
One day nearly one thou¬ 
sand French and Indians 
swarmed on both sides 
of the road, and from 

behind the safe cover of 

\ 

trees poured a deadly fire 
upon Braddock’s men. 

Washington urged Braddock to permit the English 
to take to the trees and fight Indian fashion, as the 



WASHINGTON ON HIS WAY BACK FROM 
THE FRENCH POSTS 






George Washington 


93 


Virginians were doing, but Braddock forced his men to 
stand and be shot down by the unseen foe. Braddock 



WASHINGTON AND THE VIRGINIANS SAVE BRADDOCK’s ARMY 


himself was mortally wounded. Washington had two 
horses shot under him and his clothes pierced by four 
bullets. The British regulars soon ran madly back upon 
the soldiers in the rear. They threw away guns and left 
their cannon and wagons, while the Virginians under 
Washington kept the Indians back. The British army 
retreated to Philadelphia, but Washington returned to 
Virginia, where he received the thanks of the Burgesses. 
He at once collected troops, and hastened into the 
Shenandoah Valley to protect the settlers from the 
French and Indians. Washington remained at the 
frontier for some time. 




























94 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


63. Washington meets his future wife. One day while 

on his way to Williamsburg, Washington halted at a 

plantation to take 
dinner with a friend. 
There he was intro¬ 
duced to Mrs. Martha 
Custis, a charming 
young widow of his 
own age. 

After dinner the con¬ 
versation with her 
was too interesting 
for the young officer 
to see the horses being led back and forth near the 
window. The horses were stabled again. After supper 
Washington was not yet ready to mount. Not until 
late in the afternoon next day did he mount and ride 
away with all speed for the capital. On his return, he 
visited Mrs. Custis at her own beautiful plantation, 
and did not leave until he had her promise of marriage. 

Great armies were already gathering. William Pitt, 
who sent Wolfe to capture Quebec, also ordered General 
Forbes to march against Fort Duquesne. But it was 
November before the army reached the Ohio. The 
French and Indians had nearly all gone to fight on the 
St. Lawrence, and the place was easily captured. It is 
said that Washington himself ran up the English flag 
The fort’s name was changed to Fort Pitt. 

64. Old days in Virginia. Washington now hastened 
home to claim his bride. To the wedding came the new 
royal governor in scarlet and gold, and the king’s officers 
in bright uniforms. There, too, came the great planters 



THE OLD BLOCK HOUSE, PITTSBURGH 

Still standing today in the heart of the city, formed 
part of Fort Pitt 











George Washington 


95 


with their wives dressed in the best that the yearly ship 
could bring from London. The bride rode home in a 
coach drawn by six beautiful horses, while Washington, 
well mounted, rode by the side of the coach, attended by 
many friends on horseback. 

The hardy settlers of the frontier, grateful to their 
brave defender, had already elected him to represent 
them in the House of Burgesses. He was proud to take 
his young wife to the meeting of the Burgesses when the 
old capital town was at its gayest, and when the planters 
came pouring in to attend the governor’s reception. 


Washington had already taken his seat among the 



A RECEPTION AT THE GOVERNOR’S 

At these receptions gay cavaliers and high-born ladies trod the stately minuet or danced 

the famous Virginia reel 


Burgesses when the speaker arose and, in a very eloquent 
speech, praised him and presented him the thanks of the 
















































g6 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 




House for his gallant deeds as a soldier. Washington 
was so confused to hear himself so highly praised, that, 

when he arose to 
reply, he could 
not say a word. 
“Sit down, Mr. 
Washington,” said 
the speaker, “your 
modesty is equal 
to your valor, and 
that surpasses any 
language that I 


SCENE AT MOUNT VERNON IN THE DAYS OF WASHINGTON pOSSCSS. 


Washington took his bride to Mount Vernon, and 
there began the life that he enjoyed far more than the 
life of a soldier. He felt a deep interest in everything 
on the plantation. Early every morning he visited his 
stables and his kennel, for he was fond of horses and 
dogs. He then 
mounted a 
spirited horse 
and rode over 
his plantation 
to look at the 
growing fields 
of tobacco or 
wheat, or at 
the work of 
his slaves. 

When the 

king’s inspectors, both in the West Indies and in 
London, saw barrels of flour marked ‘ ‘ George Washington, 


FOX HUNTING IN VIRGINIA 

In some sections of our country this popular sport of the 
Virginia colonists is still followed as in the days of 
George and Martha Washington 






George Washington 


97 


Mount Vernon,” they let them pass, for they were always 
good. He looked after his own and his wife’s plantations 
so well that in a few years he was one of the richest men 
in America. 

But besides such duties, there were many simple 
pleasures to be enjoyed at Mount Vernon. Here his 
soldier friends always found a warm welcome. Lord 
Fairfax and other Virginia gentlemen went often to 
Mount Vernon to enjoy a fox chase. Sometimes Mrs. 
Washington and 
the ladies rode 
with dash and 
courage after the 
hounds. Now 
and then boating 
parties on the 
wide Potomac 
were the order of 
the day. Many 

times the halls WASHINGTON drilling his Virginians 

and grounds of Mount Vernon rang with the merry 
shouts and laughter of younger people, guests who 
had come from miles around, for George and Martha 
Washington were young in spirit. 

65. The mutterings of war. One day in June, 1765, 
Washington came back from Williamsburg and told his 
family and neighbors about the bold resolutions and 
fiery speech of a member named Patrick Henry. He said 
that many older members opposed Henry. Washington 
took Henry’s side, but his friends, the Fairfaxes, took the 
king’s side in favor of the Stamp Act. This law required 
Americans to pay for a special stamp on any legal paper. 











g8 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


\ 


When the king put a tax on tea, Washington and many 
of his neighbors signed an agreement not to buy any more 


hi 



WASHINGTON TAKING COMMAND OF THE 
ARMY 

tea from England until 1 the 
tax was taken off. When he 
heard that Samuel Adams 
and the “Mohawks” had 
thrown the tea into Boston 


Harbor, he knew that exciting times would soon be at hand. 

The very next year the king ordered more soldiers to 
go to Boston, and the Boston port was closed. The 
colonies saw the danger, and sent their best men to hold 
the first Continental Congress at Philadelphia (1774). 

Virginia sent George Washington, Richard Henry Lee, 
Patrick Henry, and other great men. Washington was 
not an orator, and made no speech in the Congress, as 
others did. He was a man of deeds. His time had not 
yet come. 

66. Washington made commander of the American 
armies. In the last days of April, 1775, news came that 
there had been fighting in Massachusetts. Washington, 
dressed in the buff and blue uniform of a Virginia colonel, 
hurried to Philadelphia to the meeting of the second 

















George Washington 


99 


Continental Congress. His day had now come. It was 
a time for deeds. The American army at Boston must 
have a head. John Adams arose in Congress and said 
that for the place of commander he had “but one gentle¬ 
man in mind—a gentleman from Virginia—whose skill 
and experience as an officer, and whose great talents 
would command the approbation of all America, and unite 
the colonies better than any other person in the Union.” 

Before all these words were spoken, Washington, much 
moved, had left the room. Congress elected him unani¬ 
mously to be commander in chief of its armies. 

On Cambridge Common, under the famous Harvard 
Elm, on July 3, 1775, Washington drew his sword and 
took command of the Continental army. There was a 
great task before, him. He had to drill the troops, collect 



SCENE OF WASHINGTON’S CAMPAIGNS IN THE NORTH 


cannon from Ticonderoga, which Americans had captured, 
and get ready to drive the British from Boston. 














100 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 



67. He wins Boston and loses New York. It took all 

winter to do these things. Then one night in March, 1776, 

Washington 
secretly sent 
some of his 
best troops to 
build a fort on 
Dorchester 
Heights near 
Boston harbor. 
The next morn¬ 
ing Howe, the 
new British 
general, saw 

ENTERTAINING GENERAL HOWE AND HIS OFFICERS 0 

At Murray Hill, then a great farmstead, now the heart of New York ashmgton S 

City, Mrs. Murray entertained them so delightfully two hours 

slipped away, and the Americans were out of reach Cannon point¬ 

ing down on his army and ships. He immediately put 
his army on board and sailed away. This was a victory 
without a fight. 

Washington took his army to New York. Already he 
had built a fort on Long Island to protect the city. He 
was none too quick, for Howe came with thirty thousand 
men and many warships. 

In the battle on Long Island, a part of Washington’s 
army was defeated. General Howe planned to capture 
the defeated troops next day, but Washington was too 
shrewd. In the night he collected all the boats in that 
region and rowed his army over to New York before the 
British knew what he was doing. 

The great British army and fleet took the city, but by 
the help of a patriotic lady, Mrs. Murray, who enter¬ 
tained General Howe and his officers too long for their 


























George Washington 


IOI 


own good, all of Washington’s regiments got away safely 
up the Hudson. During the fall of 1776, General Howe 
tried to get above Washington and capture him. But 
he did neither, for Washington’s troops defeated the 
British at both Harlem Heights and White Plains. 

While at Harlem Heights, Washington felt that he 
must learn some secrets of the enemy. Nathan Hale, a 
young officer, volunteered to bring General Washington 
the information he wanted; but Hale was caught by the 
British and hanged. “I only regret,” he said, “that I 
have but one life to lose for my country.” 

General Howe then turned back as if to march against 
Philadelphia and capture Congress. Washington quickly 



WASHINGTON ON THE MARCH TO TRENTON 

All night, thinly clad, many without shoes and with bleeding feet, over the frozen ground, 
on marched the shivering men, bringing at daybreak disaster to the 
Hessians asleep after their Christmas revels 

threw a part of his army across the Hudson into New 
Jersey but he had to retreat. The British followed in a 


















102 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

hot chase across New Jersey. Washington crossed the 
Delaware, and took with him all the boats for many 

miles up and down the river. The 
British decided to wait until they 
could cross on the ice. Some of their 
generals thought the war was about 
over, and hastened back to New York 
to spend the Christmas holidays. 

68. Washington wins two great 
victories. Those were, indeed, dark 
days for the Americans. Hundreds of 
Washington’s soldiers had gone home 
discouraged, and many other faint¬ 
hearted Americans thought the cause 
lost, and were again promising obedi¬ 
ence to George III. But the people 
did not yet know Washington. 

On Christmas night, with two thousand five hundred 
picked men, Washington took to his boats, and crossed 
the Delaware in spite of the floating ice. Nine miles 
away, in Trenton, lay the Hessians, foreign soldiers whom 
George III had hired to fight his American subjects. 

On went the little army 
in spite of the biting cold 
and blinding snow. Two 
men were frozen to death 
and others were numb 
with cold. 

‘‘Our guns are wet,” 

• j /y* l i rr\ i KNEE BUCKLES WORN BY GENERAL 

Said an officer. Then WASHINGTON 

use the bayonet!” replied Washington. There was a 
sudden rush of many tramping feet and the roar of 




HESSIAN FLAG 

From a photo of the flag 
taken by Washington from 
the Hessians at Trenton and 
now in the museum at 
Alexandria 








































George Washington 


103 



CAMP AT VALLEY FORGE 


cannon in the streets. The Hessian general was killed, 
and one thousand of his men surrendered. 

These were a 
strange lot of pris¬ 
oners. Not one 
spoke a word of 
English or cared 
anything for 
George III. No 
doubt they wished 
themselves at home 
on that morning. 

But the Hessians 
were not more sur¬ 
prised at the victory than the were British generals in 
New York. 

Cornwallis, the British commander, hurried forward 
with troops to capture Washington, but rested his army 
at Trenton. That night Washington’s army stole away, 
and Cornwallis awoke in the morning to hear the booming 
of Washington’s cannon at Princeton, where Washington 
and his men were defeating another part of the British 
army. Cornwallis hastened to Princeton. It was too 
late. Washington was safe among the heights of Morris¬ 
town, where Cornwallis did not dare attack him. 

These two victories turned the tide and aroused the 
Americans. Reenforcements and supplies made Wash¬ 
ington’s army stronger and more comfortable. 

The next spring (1777) General Howe decided to 
capture Philadelphia. But Washington boldly moved 
his army across Howe’s line of march. Howe did not 
want to fight, so he put his army on board his ships, 











104 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 



sailed around into the Chesapeake, landed, and marched 
for the “rebel capital,” as the British called Philadelphia. 

At Brandywine Creek, south of 
Philadelphia, again Washington 
faced him. A severe battle was 
fought. Each side lost about a 
thousand men. The Americans 
slowly retreated. In this battle 
Lafayette, a young French noble¬ 
man fighting for America, was 
wounded. 

69. The winter at Valley Forge. 

The British slowly made their 
way to Philadelphia. Washington 
remained for the winter at Valley 
Forge, on the Schuylkill River, 
twenty miles northwest of Phila¬ 
delphia. There, in the deep woods, among the hills, 
and in log huts built by their own hands, the American 
forces passed a winter so full of suffering that it makes 
one shudder to read the story. 

When the army marched into Valley Forge, “their 
route could be traced on the snow by the blood that 
oozed from their bare, frost-bitten feet.” Washington 
wrote to Congress that nearly three thousand of his 
men were “barefoot or otherwise naked.” 

A part of the army had no bread for three days, and 
for two days no meat. Hundreds had no beds, and were 
glad to sleep on piles of straw. Others had no blankets, 
and sat up at night before the fire to keep from freezing. 
Many sickened and died. But in Philadelphia, the well- 
fed British soldiers had a gay season, with balls and 
banquets. 


GEORGE WASHINGTON 
From the Gibbs-Cbanning portrait 
painted by Gilbert Stuart, the first 
Portrait of Washington, now in 
the possession of Samuel P. Avery, 
of New York 



George Washington 



105 

Washington grieved over the suffering of his men, but 
never lost heart. All the winter through, by the aid of 
General Steuben, a noble German officer, he drilled his 
men. In the spring when the British started back to 
New York, he gave them such a bayonet charge at 
Monmouth, New Jersey (1778), that they were glad to 
escape that night, instead of stopping to bury their dead. 

70. The crowning victory of Yorktown. For the next 
three years the British army remained in New York, not 
daring to come out and attack General Washington’s army. 

Finally, in the summer of 1781, General Lafayette, 
whom Washington had sent to Virginia to watch the 
British army there, sent him word that Cornwallis had 
come up from the Carolinas, and had taken his position 
at Yorktown. Washington also got word that a large 


THE SURRENDER OF CORNWALLIS 

After the painting by John Trumbull which hangs in the rotunda of the Capitol at Washington 

French war fleet was coming to the coast of Virginia to 
aid the Americans. 

















106 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

Washington now saw his chance. He ordered Lafayette 
to watch Cornwallis while he himself took two thousand 
ragged Continentals and four thousand French troops in 
bright uniforms, and slipped away from New York. He 
was almost in Philadelphia before the British or his own 
soldiers could guess where he was going. 

At Yorktown, Washington and his army found both 
Lafayette and the French fleet keeping watch. Day 
and night the siege went on amid the roar of cannon. 
When all was ready, then came the wild charge of the 
Americans and the French in the face of British cannon 
and over British breastworks. The outer works were 
won, and Cornwallis saw that he must surrender. Seven 
thousand of the king’s troops marched out and gave up 
their arms (1781). 

The victory at Yorktown made all Americans happy, 
and they rang bells, fired cannon, built bonfires, and 
praised Washington and Lafayette. But England was 
now tired of war, and many of her great men declared 

in favor of peace, 
which was soon 
made, in 1783. 

71. Washington 
bids his officers 
and Congress 
farewell. Wash¬ 
ington bade 
farewell to the 

Washington’s resignation soldiers W1 1 h 

After the painting by Trumbull in the Capitol at Washington whom he had 

fought so long. The parting with his officers in Fraunces’ 
lavern, New York, was a touching scene. With tears 









George Washington 


107 



MOUNT VERNON, THE HOME OF WASHINGTON 


in his eyes, and with a voice full of tenderness, he em¬ 
braced each one as he bade him good-by. It was like the 
parting of a father s _ 

from his sons. 

Washing t o n 
journeyed to 
Annapolis, Mary¬ 
land, where Con¬ 
gress was then 
held, to give back 
the authority of 
commander in 
chief which Congress had bestowed on him eight 
years before. How unselfish had been the conduct of 
Washington in refusing pay for his services! How noble 
was the act of giving up his power over an army 
which idolized him, and which he might have used to 
make himself king. But he did not think of these things 
as he hastened to his beautiful Mount Vernon to enjoy 
Christmas time once more with his loved ones. 

Soon visitors began to come—old soldiers, beloved 
generals, and great statesmen of America, as well as 
distinguished people from Europe. They all wanted the 
honor of visiting the man who had led the American armies 
to victory, but who, again, was only a Virginia planter. 

72. Washington elected first president. The American 
people, however, would not let him long enjoy Mount 
Vernon. When they met to make a new Constitution, 
or plan of government, he was chairman of the meeting. 
When that government was to go into operation they 
would have no other man for their first president than 
George Washington. 





108 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

In 1789 he once more bade Mount Vernon and his 
aged mother good-by, and began the journey to New 
York, which was at that time the capital of the new 
nation. What a journey! It was almost one continual 
procession and celebration. At every town and roadside 
the people came to show their love for Washington, 
whom they rightly called the “Father of his Country.” 
School children scattered flowers in his way and young 
women sang patriotic songs as he passed under decorated 
arches. When he reached New York Harbor the bay 
was white with the sails of many nations. Crowds 
thronged the streets, cannon boomed, and flags were 
thrown to the breeze to welcome him. 



Washington’s grand entry into new york city, 1789 
From a chromo-lithograph after an original drawing by Alphonse Bigot 


On April 30, 1789, standing on the balcony of^Federal 
Hall in Wall Street, Washington took the oath of office, 





















George Washington 


109 


and pledged himself to govern the people according to 
the Constitution they had just made. He reverently 
bent and kissed the 


Bible, and became 
the first president 
of the United 
States. From the 
street, from doors 
and windows, and 
from the house¬ 
tops, the people 
cried: “Long live 



Washington’s tomb, mount vernon 


George Washington, President of the United States!” 

His new office was almost as hard a task as had been 
the Revolution. He was now in charge of the affairs of 
the country. He had to see to it that laws were made to 
protect the rights of every one. Then he had to see that 
these laws were carried out. He could not guide himself 
by what another President had done, for there had been 
none before him. 

But Washington directed the new ship of state so that 
it suffered no harm. When it looked as though we would 
have another war with England, he wisely preserved 
peace. So well were the people satisfied that they made 
him president a second time. When they offered him the 
office for a third term he refused. Thousands came to see 
him leave the capital. As he gave them his final farewell, 
tears rolled down his cheeks, and men cried like children. 

He was glad to get back to Mount Vernon, for he had 
grown old and weary in serving his country. He spent 
his remaining years among the scenes he loved, so well. 
He died in 1799, mourned as a father by the whole people. 
















































no 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL 

The Leading Facts, i. George Washington was born on the 
Potomac, and went to school near his birthplace. 2. He learned 
horseback riding and how to find his way in the deep forests. 

3. He became a surveyor in the Shenandoah for Lord Fairfax. 

4. Governor Dinwiddie sent Washington to order the French 
to leave the Ohio. 5. Washington joined Braddock’s campaign 
against the French. 6 . He married Mrs. Martha Custis, and 
was elected to the House of Burgesses. 7. He went to first 
Continental Congress, and the second Congress made him 
commander over the Continental Army. 8. He drove the 
British out of Boston, outwitted them around New York, 
retreated across the Jerseys, and then beat them at Trenton 
and Princeton, g. He fought at Brandywine, suffered at Valley 
Forge, penned the British up in New York, and captured Corn¬ 
wallis at Yorktown. 10. After the war he retired to Mount 
Vernon, but was made first president of the new Republic. 

Study Questions. 1. Where was Washington born? 2. 
What things did he love to do besides study? 3. Who was 
Lord Fairfax and what did he engage Washington to do? 4. 
Why was he chosen for the mission to the French and what 
was the result? 5 Picture Braddock’s defeat. 6. What did 
Washington and his troops do after the British were defeated? 
7. What news did Washington bring back to Mount Vernon 
in 1765? 8. Who went to Congress with him and how did 
a member speak of him? g. Picture the scene in the second 
Congress. 10. How did Washington outwit Howe? 11. Who 
was Nathan Hale? 12. Picture the capture of the Hessians. 
13. Tell of the winter at Valley Forge. 14. Who was Steuben 
and what did he do? 13. Picture the capture of Cornwallis. 
16. Tell of Washington’s unselfish conduct during and after 
the war. 17. Picture his journey to New York. 

Suggested Readings. Washington: Cooke, Stories of the 
Old Dominion , 94-139; Blaisdell and Ball, Hero Stories from 
American History , 62-76, 123-155; Hart. Camps and Firesides 
of the Revolution , 239-255, 261-266, 307-309; Glascock, Stories 
of Columbia , 101-113; Baldwin, Four Great Americans , 9-68; 
Hart, How Our Grandfathers Lived , 45-47; Mabie, Heroes Every 
Child Should Know , 274-288; Hawthorne, Grandfather s Chair , 
186-191; Magill, Stories from Virginia History , ^6-78, 70-04’ 
Wister, The Seven Ages of Washington. 


t 


Benjamin Franklin 111 

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, WHO HELPED TO WIN 
OUR INDEPENDENCE BY WINNING THE 
HEARTS OF FRENCHMEN FOR 
AMERICA 

73. Benjamin Franklin, a poor boy. Franklin was 
born in Boston (1706). His father was a poor but hard¬ 
working man who made*soap and candles. Benjamin’s 
nine brothers had learned trades, but his parents had 
decided that he should be the “scholar of the family.’’ 

But a family of seventeen was hard to feed and clothe, 
and Benjamin was taken out of school at ten and put to 
work with his father. 

Although Benjamin liked to work with tools, he liked 
to read better, and spent 
all his little earnings in 
buying books. Finally 
Franklin’s parents decided 
that since he loved books so 
well he might be a printer, 
and put him to learn the 
trade with an older brother. 

He longed to write some¬ 
thing for his brother’s 
paper. He did so, and put 
it at night under the door, 
but he did not dare sign his 
name to what he had writ¬ 
ten. His brother showed it 
to his friends. They praised 
it, and it was printed. It was fun for Benjamin to hear people 
guessing that the writer must be some great man in Boston. 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

From the original portrait by Joseph Siffrein 
Duplessis, in the Museum of Fine Arts, 
Boston 





112 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


74. He gets a start in Philadelphia. Franklin was now 
only seventeen, but because of his brother’s cruelty he 

sold his books and left 
home. After long wan¬ 
derings he finally reached 
Philadelphia. He had 
walked in the rain and 
mud. He had been in a 
storm at sea. He was 
tired and homesick. It 
was Sunday. But he was 
so hungry, he thought 
more of something to eat 
than of dressing up. He 
was in a sorry plight. 
With his pockets stuffed 
with soiled shirts and 
stockings, and a roll of 
bread under each arm and one in his hand, Franklin 
walked up Market Street, and passed the home of his 
future wife, Deborah Reed. No wonder she laughed at 
him. She would have laughed more if some one had 
said: ‘ ‘ There goes a boy who will some day become your 
husband and the greatest man in Philadelphia.” 

Franklin found work in a printing office, saved his 
money, and bought books to study. He got acquainted 
with other young people who also loved books. With 
them he often spent his evenings. 

To the surprise of Franklin and his brother printers, 
one day Sir William Keith, the governor of Pennsylvania, 
called at the shop to see Franklin. Governors did not 
then pay much attention to poor printers. The governor, 



FRANKLIN AND DEBORAH REED 

The first meeting of Franklin and the young 
girl who was to be his wife 

















Benjamin Franklin 


113 


who was dissatisfied with Philadelphia printers, promised 
to send him to England to buy a printing press. That 
w T as fine. Franklin decided to go. 

The governor, however, did not even give him letters 
of introduction, to say nothing of money, and Franklin 
found himself a stranger in one of the largest cities in 
the world. 

He did not whine or spend his time grumbling, but 
went bravely to work in a printing office. He set a good 
example to his beer-drinking comrades by drinking only 
water. He was stronger and did more work and did it 
better than any of them. 

The next year a Philadelphia merchant persuaded 
Franklin to return to America to become his clerk. But 
in a few years he went to work again at his old trade as 
printer, and in a short time be¬ 
came the editor of the Pennsyl¬ 
vania Gazette. 

Franklin had already married 
Miss Reed, the young lady who 
had laughed at him on his first 
day in Philadelphia. 

75. A rising young man. He 
was now a rising young man in 
the old Quaker city. From year 
to year he did many things to help 
others. He started a circulating 
library, the first in America, out 
of which has grown the Philadel¬ 
phia Public Library. He founded 
a school, which has become the great University of 
Pennsylvania, and a society, called the American 



PRINTING PRESS 

From, a photo of the press used by 
Franklin when in London, and 
now in the National Museum, 
Washington, D. C. 


















Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


114 




Philosophical Society, which still holds [important meet¬ 
ings. He also formed the first fire department in 
any American town. 

Who has not heard of Poor Richard's Almanacf It 
was printed by Franklin, and the people liked it so well 
that he sometimes printed ten thousand copies. Here 
are a few of the quaint and true sayings: “A word to 
the wise is enough.” “God helps those who help them¬ 
selves.” 


“Early to bed and early to rise, 

Makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” 

Franklin and his young wife kept these rules faith¬ 
fully. She worked in the printing office as well as in the 
house. They hired no servants. Their furniture, dress, 

and food were plain. He ate his break¬ 
fast of bread and milk out of a wooden 
bowl with a pewter spoon. Mrs. Frank¬ 
lin surprised him one day by giving 
him a china bowl and a silver spoon. 
She said her husband deserved such 
things as well as other men. 

The people of Philadelphia admired 
Benjamin Franklin more and more. At 
the age of thirty he was chosen clerk 
of the assembly of Pennsylvania, and 
afterward was elected a lawmaker in 
the assembly. Every year for ten 
years his neighbors elected him to help 



A v KAiN JvLlIS 1 1 1 C j 1 1 

After a model of the stove m£fke the laws of the colony. 

• invented by Franklin In a few year s Franklin was made 

deputy postmaster-general for all the colonies by the 
king. He surprised the people by declaring that the 




















Benjamin Franklin 


US 



mail should be carried from Philadelphia to Boston every 
week! Franklin was postmaster-general for more than 
twenty years. , ^ 

76. Franklin and electric¬ 
ity. All the wise men in 
England and France were 
excited by news of an expe¬ 
riment made by Benjamin 
Franklin. He had made elec¬ 
tricity by using glass tubes, 
and he had seen the light¬ 
ning flash in the storm cloud. 

He decided to prove, if he 
could, that lightning and elec¬ 
tricity are the same thing. 

No one had vet done this. 

m/ 

He made a kite out of silk, to which he fastened a small 
iron rod. Then he tied a hempen string to the kite and 
the rod. To the lower end of the string he tied a silken 
cord to protect his hand from the electricity. On the 
string he tied a key. 

One day when the storm clouds came rolling up, 
Franklin sent his kite high up among them, while he 
waited. Soon the loose fibers on the hempen string 
moved. Franklin placed his knuckles close to the key, 
and sparks came flying at his hand. 

When the news of this experiment was published some 
very wise men smiled; others said it was a trick. The 
great Universities of Oxford and Edinburgh, however, 
honored him. Societies of wise men in England, France, 
and Spain elected him a member. He was now a famous 


MILESTONE, LYME, CONN. 

This milestone, still standing at Lyme, marks 
the distance on a road surveyed by Franklin 


man. 






116 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

77. Franklin’s mission to England. Already we have 
seen that England and her colonies were beginning to 

quarrel. What wiser man could be 
sent to England to defend the colo¬ 
nies by tongue and pen than Benja¬ 
min Franklin? He made friends for 
America among the great men of 
England. 

When the Stamp Act was passed 
the members of the English Parlia¬ 
ment asked him nearly two hundred 
questions about the effects of the 
Stamp Act on America. He wrote 
many letters to great men, and long 
articles to the English newspapers, 
explaining how the Stamp Act in¬ 
jured America. Both in England 
and in America there was rejoicing 
when Parliament repealed the Stamp 
Act. 

For eight years more, while Amer¬ 
ica was busy opposing the tax on tea, 
Franklin was in England trying to 
get Parliament and the king to give the Americans better 
treatment. He often talked with William Pitt, the great 
friend of America. But it was all in vain. There could 
be no hope of friendship between the two countries. 

Franklin saw that war would come, and hastened back 
to his beloved America, where he arrived just after the 
battles of Lexington and Concord (1775). 

Congress soon sent him to France to influence the 
king and the people of that country to aid America in 



a rev? 


FRANKLIN S CLOCK 






























Benjamin Franklin 


117 

winning independence. The French hated the English, 
but admired Benjamin Franklin. The king gave money 
secretly, and many French officers came to serve in the 
American army. 

In 1778, Franklin influenced the king of France to 
cake sides openly with the Americans. French warships 
and French soldiers by thousands now came to help fight 
our battles. 

After helping to make the treaty of peace with England 
in 1783, Franklin came home with many honors. Though 
he was nearly eighty years old, the people of Pennsylvania 
immediately elected him governor. 



FRANKLIN AT THE COURT OF FRANCE 


78. Helps to make our Constitution. Franklin did one 
more great work for his country. In 1787 the states 





































118 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 



sent their wisest men to Philadelphia, Franklin’s home, 
to make a constitution or plan of government. Penn¬ 
sylvania chose Franklin, with others, to meet with these 
men in Independence Hall. 

George Washington, as we have seen, was the president 
of this meeting. Many speeches were made, and there 
was debating for many weeks. Everybody listened 
when Franklin spoke, for he was a wise man. As he 
had helped to make, and had signed, the Declaration 
of Independence, so now, after helping to make the 
Constitution, he signed it. Many persons did not like 
the Constitution. Franklin said there were some things 
in the new plan which he did not like, but declared that 
he signed it because of the good things it did contain. 
He showed his wisdom, for it is one of the best plans of 
government that has ever been made. 

Franklin spent his last days with 
his daughter, and, surrounded by his 
grandchildren, died in 1790, at the 
age of eighty-four. 


INDEPENDENCE HALL, PHILADELPHIA, IN THE DAYS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 

From an old print 
















Benjamin Franklin 


119 


SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL 

The Leading Facts. 1. Franklin’s parents, who were poor, 
had seventeen children; hence Benjamin, though a studious 
fellow, was put to the printer’s trade. 2. Franklin wrote 
articles for his brother’s paper, but dared not sign his name to 
them. 3. Left home and went to Philadelphia. 4. Persuaded 
to go to London. He returned and married. 5. Franklin 
started a circulating library, a school which became the Uni¬ 
versity of Pennsylvania, and a society called the American 
Philosophical Society. 6. He founded the first fire department 
in America and printed Poor Richard's Almanac. 7. Was 
elected to the assembly of Pennsylvania; later became deputy 
postmaster-general for all the colonies. 8. Experiments with 
electricity, g. Was sent to France, where he won the help of 
France in the War of the Revolution. 10. Franklin was 
governor of the state of Pennsylvania, was a delegate to help 
make the Constitution, and died at the age of eighty-four. 

Study Questions. 1. How long ago was Franklin born? 
2. Tell of his school experiences, 3. Tell the story of his work 
with his brother. 4. Tell the story of the “runaway printer.” 
5. How did he spend his time in Philadelphia? 6. How did he 
happen to go to London the first time ? 7. What good example 

did he set to London printers ? 8. Why did he return to Phila¬ 

delphia? g. What three great institutions did he found? 
10. Why did the people like Poor Richard's Almanacf 11. 
What public offices did he hold ? 12. Picture Franklin proving 

that electricity and lightning are the same. 13. Why did he go 
to England a second time? 14. How did Franklin aid in the 
repeal 'of the Stamp Act? 13. In what great events did he 
have a part? 16. What was his work in France? 17. What 
was his last great work? 18. How did he spend his last days? 
ig. Point out the obstacles he overcame all along in his career. 

Suggested Readings. Franklin: Baldwin, Four Great 
Americans , 71-122; Hart, Camps and Firesides 0} the Revolution, 
158-162; Hart, Colonial Children , 197-199, 210-214; Wright, 
Children's Stories of Great Scientists , 71-89; Bolton, Famous 
American Statesmen, 38-66; Brooks, Century Book of Famous 
Americans, 65-76. 


5 


120 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


PATRICK HENRY AND SAMUEL ADAMS, TWO 
FAMOUS MEN OF THE REVOLUTION, WHO 
DEFENDED AMERICA BY 
TONGUE AND PEN 


PATRICK HENRY, THE ORATOR OF THE REVOLUTION 

79. The Stamp Act. In 1765 the English government 
made a very unwise law. It was known as the Stamp 
Act. This required that all legal papers, all newspapers, 
and a few other things must have special stamps on 
them. The colonists must pay for these. It was a kind 
of tax. This angered the Americans. What right had 
the government over in England to tax them over here? 

Leading men in every one of the thirteen colonies spoke 
and wrote against the Stamp Act. Of all the men who 

did so, Patrick Henry, of 
Virginia, was the most 
eloquent and fiery. He 
had been elected by the 
people of his county to go 
up to Williamsburg, the 
capital of Virginia, to help 
make the, laws. There 
were many able men in 
that old House of 
Burgesses, but none of 
them had taken the lead 
in opposing the king’s plan 
of a stamp tax. 

One day young Henry, 
although a new member, snatched a blank leaf from a 
law book and wrote down a set of resolutions declaring 



PATRICK HENRY 

After the painting by Thomas Sully, owned by 
William Wirt Henry, the orator’s 
grandson, Richmond, Virginia 






Patrick Henry 


121 


that only the Virginia assembly could tax Virginians, and 
that any one who denied this was an enemy of the colony. 

He backed up these resolutions with 
a speech that stirred the Burgesses. 

He was so fiery and bold that men 
almost held their breath while they 
listened to the young orator. He 
closed by declaring that George III 
was acting like a tyrant, and \\\ 
that “Caesar had his Brutus, 

Charles the First his Crom¬ 
well, and George the Third— ’ ’ 

“Treason! treason!” shouted 
the Speaker of the House. 

Waiting a moment until the 
noise ceased, the orator, with 
a calm and steady voice, 
added, “may profit by their 
example. If this be treason, 
make the most of it.” 

Henry’s resolutions were passed, and were printed in 
almost every newspaper in the colonies. They made the 
people more determined than ever not to buy stamped 
paper. 

80. Young Patrick Henry. Who was this young lawyer 
that stirred these dignified Virginia gentlemen in pow¬ 
dered hair, knee breeches, and silver buckles? 

Patrick Henry was born in Virginia (1736). His father 
was a well-educated Scotchman, who taught school and 
became a lawyer. His mother was of Welsh blood. 
Patrick went to school, but he liked to hunt and fish far 
better than to study. He was a puzzle to his parents. 



THE STOVE IN THE HOUSE OF THE 
BURGESSES 

This stove is now in the State 
Library of Virginia 



























I 


122 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

By the time he was eighteen he had failed as a student, 
as a clerk, and as a storekeeper. He then married. 
The parents on both sides helped them to start farming 
with a few slaves. In two years Patrick Henry was forced 
to sell. Once more he tried keeping a country store. 
In three years the store closed its doors and Patrick Henry, 

aged twenty-three, was 
without an occupation. 

He now turned to the 
study of law. Although 
not in love with school 
when a boy, he liked to 
read the Bible. He also 
had a strong liking for 
history, and, in his youth, 
read the histories of 
Greece, of Rome, of Eng¬ 
land, and of the colonies. 
By a few months of hard 
study of the law he 
passed the examination. 
He succeeded from the 
first, and in less than four years had been engaged in more 
than one thousand cases. 

The people liked him and made him a member of the 
House of Burgesses. There he made his stirring speech 
against the Stamp Act. 

Many great Englishmen, such as William Pitt and 
Edmund Burke, opposed the stamp tax. The Americans 
were happy when they heard of its repeal (1766). 

81. New taxes and growing resistance. As if the 

king and parliament could learn nothing, they passed a 



PATRICK HENRY SPEAKING IN THE HOUSE OF 
BURGESSES 

From an engraving after the original 
painting by Rothermal 















Patrick Henry 


123 


J. 

l .*>. r —* j y C’ty/,,-]/•% 



Tea Act the very next year, placing a tax on all tea 
imported into the colonies. Then the Americans every¬ 
where refused to 
buy the tea and pay 
the tax. When the 
tea ships came to 
America the people 
of New York and 
Philadelphia sent 
them back, and the 
“Sons of Liberty” 
at Annapolis burned 
a ship full of tea. 

At Charleston the 
tea was stored in 
cellars and sold for 
the people when war 
came. The king’s governor at Boston refused to permit 
the ships to carry the tea back to England, but the 

people, one night, 
threw the tea into the 
Atlantic Ocean. King 
George grew angry at 
such ‘ ‘ tea parties, ’ ’ and 
had laws passed to 
punish Boston. More 
British soldiers were 
sent to America to 
force the people in the 
resisting colonies to 
obey the laws which they detested. 

The colonies, more excited than ever, decided to hold 


ON THE WAY TO THE GREAT CONGRESS 
AT PHILADELPHIA 



ST. JOHN’S CHURCH, RICHMOND 













124 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 



DONT TREAD ON ME 


THE FLAG OF THE 
VIRGINIA MINUTEMEN 


a great Congress in Philadelphia (1774). Virginia, like 
the others, sent her best men. There, in Carpenter’s 

Hall, a building still standing, Henry 
made friends of leading men from 
other colonies. There he met Samuel 
Adams, who was doing with his pen 
what Henry was doing with his tongue, 
and they became life-long friends. 
One day, when speaking in favor 
of united action, Patrick Henry declared: ‘‘The distinc¬ 
tions between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, 
and New Englanders are no more. I am not a Virginian, 
but an American.” 

As Patrick Henry talked with men from other colonies 
and heard how the king’s troops were acting at Boston, 
he was convinced war must come. He went home and 
urged Virginia people to arm for the coming struggle. 
The king’s governor refused to permit meetings in the 
old capitol at Williamsburg, so they , 

were held in St. John’s Church, 

Richmond, a church still standing. 

Here Patrick Henry offered resolu¬ 
tions declaring that Virginia should 
arm herself for the coming war. 

It was a serious time, and these 
were serious resolutions. Should 
the thirteen struggling colonies go 
to war with one of the greatest 
nations in the world? Would it 
not be wise to send more petitions 
to the king? Some of the ablest men in Virginia opposed 
Henry’s resolutions. 





OLD POWDER HOUSE, 
WILLIAMSBURG 

The removal of the powder 
from this house to a British 
man-of-war caused the first 
uprising of the Virginians 











Patrick Henry 


!25 


82. Patrick Henry defends his resolutions. Patrick 
Henry listened to their speeches with smothered excite- 
ment. When he rose 
to defend his resolu¬ 
tions, his face was pale 
and his voice was 
trembling. But soon 
his audience forgot 
what other men had 
said. They leaned for¬ 
ward and listened as 
if no other man had 
spoken. He stirred 
their deepest feelings 
when he declared: 

“We must fight! I 
repeat it, Sir, we must 
fight! An appeal to 
arms and the God of 
Hosts is all that is left 
to us. They tell us, 

Sir, that we are weak; 
an adversary. But when shall we be stronger? Will it 
be the next week or the next year? Sir, we are not weak, 
if we make a proper use of the means which the God of 
Nature hath placed in our power. There is no retreat 
but in submission and slavery. Our chains are forged! 
Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! 
The war is inevitable, and let it come 1 I repeat it, Sir: 
Let it come! — The war is actually begun! The next 
gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the 
clash of resounding arms. Our brothers are already in 



DECLAIMING PATRICK HENRY’S FAMOUS SPEECH 

Ay a favorite declamation this great speech still rouses 
the spirit of patriotism in America 


unable to cope with so powerful 




















































126 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

the field! Why stand we here idle? Is life so dear, or 
peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains 

and slavery? Forbid it, 
Almighty God! I know not 
what course others may take; 
but as for me, give me liberty, 
or give me death!” 

One who heard this speech 
says that when the orator 
spoke the words “chains and 
slavery,” he stood like a slave 
with his body bent, his wrists 
crossed, as if bound by chains, 
and that his face looked like 
that of a hopeless slave. After 
a solemn pause he raised his 
eyes and chained hands toward 
heaven, and said, as if in 
prayer: “Forbid it, Almighty 
God!” He then slowly bent 
his body still nearer the floor, 
looking like a man oppressed, heart-broken, and helpless, 
and said: “I know not what course others may take.” 
Then, rising grandly and proudly, with every muscle 
strained, as if he would break his imaginary chains, he 
exclaimed: “Give me liberty, or give me death!” 

The men who heard this speech never forgot it. The 
people of Virginia now pushed forward the work of 
arming her men. And when her own Washington went 
to take command of the army at Boston he found Virginia 
soldiers there wearing on their hunting shirts the words 
“Liberty or death!” . 



PATRICK HENRY 

From, the bronze figure of the Washington 
monument by Crawford at Richmond 












Samuel Adams 


127 


From this time on Patrick Henry was in the forefront 
of the struggle with England. Virginia sent him to 
Congress, then she made him an officer in the army, 
and finally not only made him the first governor after 
independence was declared, but elected him to that office 
three times in succession, and offered him the same 
office three times more. 

Patrick Henry finally retired to his plantation and 
refused all offers of office. Many old friends and many 
great strangers went to visit him in his old age as one of 
the great men of the American Revolution. In the year 
of his death (1799), when some danger threatened Virginia 
Patrick Henry came forth at Washington’s request, old 
and feeble as he was, and aroused the people once more 
with his burning words. They elected him to the House 
of Burgesses by a great majority, but he did not live to 
take office. 

SAMUEL ADAMS, THE LEADER OF THE PEOPLE 

83. Adams works against the Stamp Act. While 
Patrick Henry was stirring the feelings of the people by 
his fiery eloquence, Samuel Adams was stirring them by 
strong arguments in his writings, to oppose the acts of 
king and of parliament. 

Samuel Adams was born in Massachusetts (1722). 
While he loved school and books he cared very little 
for spending his time in outdoor amusements. At 
eighteen Samuel was graduated from Harvard College. 
His parents hoped that he would be a minister, but he 
began to study law. His mother was so opposed to his 
becoming a lawyer that he gave up the study and turned 
to business. He set up in business for himself, but, like 


128 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

Patrick Henry, soon lost all. He next went into business 
with his father, but in that, too, he failed. Finally 

Samuel Adams turned to politics. 

While a student in Harvard he 
had debated the question whether 
it was right to resist the king to 
save the country from ruin. He 
took an active part in debating 
clubs and soon began to write for 
the newspapers, encouraging 
resistance. 

One day the people of Boston 
read in the papers the fiery reso¬ 
lutions of Patrick Henry. Samuel 
Adams seized his pen and began 
his fiery attacks on the Stamp 
Act. 

The Boston people elected him 
to be their representative in the Massachusetts assembly. 
More and more he took the lead in the movement against 
the Stamp Act. He went about the shops, into the stores, 
wherever he found people to listen to him. 

He helped them form a society, called the Sons of 
Liberty, which destroyed the hated stamps as soon as 
they arrived. He talked with the merchants, and they 
signed a pledge not to buy any more goods from England 
until the Stamp Act was repealed. At this the British 
merchants felt the loss of trade and joined in the cry 
against the Stamp Act. 

84. Colonists refuse to buy tea. We have seen that 
parliament, after the Stamp Act was repealed, passed 
the famous Tea Act. The Americans were angry again, 



SAMUEL ADAMS 

From the original painting by John 
Singleton Copley representing Adams 
in 1771, now hanging in the Museum 
of Fine Arts, Boston 


Samuel Adams 


129 


and the Sons of Liberty declared that no tea should be 
landed. The merchants took the pledge again to buy 
no more English goods, and patriotic women began to 
make tea out of leaves of other plants. 

Samuel Adams again took up his pen, and wrote the 
famous “Circular Letter,” which urged all the colonies 
to unite and stand firm in opposing the tax on tea. This 
letter made King George very angry, but Samuel Adams 
only wrote the more. 

Night after night as the people passed his window they 
saw by his lamp that he was busy with his pen, and said 
to one another: “Samuel Adams is hard at work writing 
against the Tories. ’ ’ People in England and America who 
took the king’s side in these disputes were called Tories. 

The king now sent two regiments of soldiers to Boston 
to force the people to pay 
the tea tax. There were 
frequent quarrels between 
the soldiers and the peo¬ 
ple. One evening in a 
street quarrel the soldiers 
killed three men and 
wounded eight others 
(1770). Immediately the 
fire bells rang and great 
crowds of angry people 
filled the streets. The 
next day they filled to 
overflowing Faneuil Hall, 
the “Cradle of Liberty.” 

A still larger meeting in the Old South Church cried out 
that both regiments of soldiers must leave town. 





















130 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 



The colonists now organized, and determined not to 
let this cheap tea be sold. They were not a minute too 


THE BOSTON MASSACRE 


Adams and other leaders were sent to the king’s 
officers to tell them what the people had said. Before 
the governor and the general, backed by the king’s 
authority and by two regiments, stood plain Samuel 
Adams, with only the voice of the people to help him. 

The governor, unwilling to obey the demand of the 
people, said he would send one regiment away. But 
Samuel Adams stood firm, and said: “Both regiments 
or none!” The governor finally gave up, and Samuel 
Adams, the man of the people, was a greater leader than 
ever before. 

The king now tried to trick the Americans into paying 
the tax by selling tea cheaper in America than in England, 
even with the tax. But the people in all the colonies de¬ 
clared that they objected, not to the price, but to the tax. 

















Samuel Adams 


131 



THE BOSTON TEA PARTY ABOARD THE TEA SHIP 
IN THE HARBOR 


soon, for tea ships were already on their way to America. 
Great mass meetings in New York and Philadelphia 
compelled the tea 
agents to resign 
and the tea ships 
to return home. 

In Charleston, 
the agents were 
forced to resign, 
and the tea was 
stored in cellars 
and sold for the 
public good 
during the Revo¬ 
lution. At An¬ 
napolis the spirit 
of the patriots was reflected in the burning of the 
“Peggy Stewart.” 

85. The Boston Tea Party. When the ships carrying 
the cheaper tea arrived in Boston, Samuel Adams set a 
guard of armed men to keep the tea from being landed. 

Town meeting followed town meeting. On December 
16, 1773, the greatest one of all was held. Early that 
morning hundreds of country people started for Boston. 
They found the shops and stores closed and people stand¬ 
ing on the street corners talking earnestly. 

At ten o’clock the people met in the Old South Church, 
and voted that the tea should never be landed. They 
also sent the owner of the ships to the governor for 
permission to take the tea ships out past the guns of the 
fort guarding the harbor. 

In the afternoon still greater crowds pushed and 













132 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

jammed into the seats, aisles, and galleries of that famous 
church. Samuel Adams was chairman. He made a 
speech. Other leaders spoke. One stirred the audience 
by asking “how tea would mix with salt water.” Eve¬ 
ning came, and candles were lighted. The owner of the 
tea vessels returned and said the governor would not 
give him the permission. 

Immediately Samuel Adams arose and said: “This 
meeting can do nothing to save the country!” In a 
moment the war whoop of the “Mohawks” sounded 
outside. The crowd rushed out and found the people 
following a band of men disguised as Indians down where 
the tea ships lay at anchor. The “Mohawks” went on 
board, brought up the boxes of tea, broke them open, 
and threw the tea into the Atlantic Ocean. 

That very night Samuel Adams sent fast riders to 
carry the news to the country towns. The next day, 
with letters to leaders in other colonies in his saddle¬ 
bags, Paul Revere, the great courier of the Revolution, 
started on his long ride to New York and Philadelphia. 
As he went from town to town and told the story of the 
Tea Party the people cheered him, spread dinners for 
him, built great bonfires, and fired cannon. He saw 
thousands of people gather in New York and Philadelphia, 
and he heard them declare that they would stand by 
Boston. 

Boston soon needed help, for the king and parliament 
passed a law that no ship could enter or leave Boston 
Harbor, and another which forbade the holding of 
town meetings. Other hard laws were also passed and 
an army was sent to Boston to force the people 
to obey them. 


Samuel Adams 


i 33 


86 . The first Continental Congress. We have seen a 
call go forth for a Congress at Philadelphia (1774). The 
Massachusetts legislature chose Samuel Adams and his 
cousin, John Adams, with two others to go to the Congress. 

But Samuel Adams was very poor and could not afford 
to dress in a style suited to meet the rich merchants of 
New York and Philadelphia and the great planters of 
the southern colonies. One evening while the family 
was at tea, in came the most fashionable tailor to take 
his measure. Next came a hatter, and then a shoemaker. 
In a few days a new trunk at his door told the story, for 
in it were a suit of clothes, two pairs of shoes, silver shoe 
buckles, gold knee buckles, a cocked hat, a gold-headed 
cane, and a fashionable red cloak. What proof of the 
people’s love for their neighbor! 

At New York, Samuel Adams and his friends were kept 
nearly a week. Many persons in carriages and on horse¬ 
back came out to welcome 
them to Philadelphia, the city 
of William Penn. People were 
anxious to see the man who had 
written the “Circular Letter,” 
who had driven the king’s regi¬ 
ments out of Boston, who had 
planned the Tea Party. Here, 
in Carpenter’s Hall, for the first 
time, he met George Washington, 

Patrick Henry, and Richard 
Henry Lee, of Virginia, Christo¬ 
pher Gadsden, who was called 
the “Samuel Adams of South Carolina,” and many other 
noble men who became his cherished and life-long friends. 


f 



carpenter’s hall, 


PHILADELPHIA 















134 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 



Soon Paul Revere came riding into Philadelphia with 
the news that the patriots of Boston were in danger of 

being attacked by 
the British. The 
Congress immedi- 
ately declared 
that if the British 
made war on Bos¬ 
ton, it was the 
duty of every 
colony to help her 

ASSEMBLY ROOM IN CARPENTER’S HALL people fight. It 

Here met the first Continental Congress of the colonies looked US if WUr 


might come at any moment. 

When Congress was over, Samuel Adams hastened 
home to help to form, in all the Massachusetts towns, 
companies of minutemen ready to fight at a moment’s 
warning. The next spring the news got out that British 
soldiers were going to Concord to destroy the powder 
and provisions collected there by the minutemen, and 
also to capture Samuel Adams and John Hancock and 
send them to England to be tried for treason. The 
two patriot leaders, fearing arrest, were then in hiding at 
Lexington. Paul Revere agreed to alarm the minute- 
men the instant the soldiers left Boston. 

87. Paul Revere’s midnight ride. Standing by his 
horse across the river from Boston, one April evening, 
waiting for signals, Paul Revere saw two lanterns flash 
their lights from the tower of Old North Church. He 
mounted and rode in hot haste toward Lexington, arous¬ 
ing the sleeping villages as he cried out: “Up and arm, 
the regulars are coming!” Soon he heard the alarm gun 


































Samuel Adams 


i 35 



of the minutemen and the excited ringing of the church 
bells. He knew the country was rising. 

At Lexington the minutemen who guarded the house 
where Samuel Adams and John Hancock were sleeping 
ordered Revere not to make so much noise. “You will 
soon have noise enough,” he shouted. “The regulars 
are coming!” And he rode on toward Concord. 

88 . The Battle at Lexington and at Concord Bridge. 
As the British soldiers reached Lexington at sunrise, 
on April 19, 1775, the captain of the minutemen gave the 
command: “Stand your ground. Don’t fire unless fired 
upon. But if they mean to have war, let it begin here!” 
A bold speech for a captain of only about sixty men 

when faci'ng as 
brave soldiers as 
Europe had ever 
seen! The min- 
utemen stood 
their ground until 
seven were killed 
and nine wounded 
• — nearly one- 
third of their 
number. Then 
they retreated. 

The British 
pushed on to 
Concord. But 
the minutemen, 
now coming from 
every direction, made a stand at Concord Bridge, d heir 
musket fire was so deadly that the Biitish started back, 


PAUL REVERE ALARMING THE MINUTEMEN 

The old Hancock House, where, guarded by the minutemen, 
Samuel Adams and John Hancock lay sleeping when 
Paul Revere rode by, still stands in Lexington 













136 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

running at times to escape with their lives. At Lexington 
they fell upon the ground, tired out with the chase 
the minutemen gave them, and were met by fresh troops 
from Boston. 

Soon the British soldiers were forced to run again, for 
minutemen by hundreds were gathering, and they seldom 
missed their aim. From behind rocks, trees, fences, and 
houses they cut down the tired redcoats. Nearly three 
hundred British soldiers -were killed or wounded before 
Boston was reached that night. 

89. The Battle of Bunker Hill. Day and night for 
weeks minutemen from other New England colonies, and 
even from as far south as Virginia, marched in hot haste 
to Boston. The British general soon found his army in 



Boston entirely cut off from the mainland. He resolved 
to fortify Bunker Hill, but what was his surprise to wake 


1 










Samuel Adams 


T 37 


one morning (June 17) and find the Americans under 
Colonel Prescott already building breastworks on the hill! 

That afternoon three thousand picked 
troops, in solid columns and with bayonets 
gleaming, marched up the hill to storm that 
breastwork. ‘‘Don’t fire until you can see 
the whites of their eyes! ” said the commander 
of the minutemen. On came the lines of red, 
with banners flying and drums beating- 
From the breastworks there ran a flame of 
fire which mowed down the red coats like 
grass. They reeled, broke, and ran. They 
rested. Again they charged; again they 
broke and ran. They were brave men, and, 
although hundreds of their companions had 
fallen, a third time the British charged and 
won, for the Americans had used up their 
powder, and they had no bayonets. More 
than one thousand British soldiers fell that day. The 
Americans did not lose half that number. But among 
the killed was the beloved General Joseph Warren. 

90. The second Continental Congress. Just as the 
British were marching into Lexington on that famous 
April morning, Samuel Adams, with John Hancock, w r as 
leaving for Philadelphia, where Congress was to meet 
again. As he heard the guns of the minutemen answer 
the guns of the regulars, Adams said to Hancock: “What 
a glorious morning is this! ’ ’ 

The members from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and 
New York were escorted across the Hudson to Newark, 
New Jersey, and entertained at a great dinner, with 
speeches. Near Philadelphia, a large procession of armed 





138 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

men and carriages met and escorted them into the city, 
where bells told of their coming. 

When this Congress met, Samuel Adams seconded the 
motion of his cousin, John Adams, that Washington be 
made the general of all the American troops. He saw 
his own neighbor, John Hancock, made president of the 
Congress. 

" 91. The Declaration of Independence. For more than 

a year Samuel Adams worked hard to get the Congress 
to make a Declaration of Independence. Richard Henry 
Lee, of Virginia, introduced a motion into the Congress 
for independence. The Declaration was made, July 4, 
1776, and Samuel Adams as a great leader of the 
Revolution had done his work. 

But, with other noble men, he still labored with all his 
powers, in Congress and at home, to help America win 
her independence. 

After independence had been won, Samuel Adams 
still continued to serve his state, and was elected gov¬ 
ernor of Massachusetts only a few years before his 
death, which occurred in 1803, at the advanced age of 
eighty-one. 


SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL 

The Leading Facts. 1 . In 1765 the English government 
passed the Stamp Act. 2. Great opposition to the Stamp Act 
in all the colonies. 3 . Patrick Henry made a great speech 
against the Stamp Act. 4 . He went to the first Continental 
Congress and made many friends; came home and made a 
great speech saying that war would come. 5. Chosen governor 
of Virginia many times. 

6 . Samuel Adams studied hard, failed in several occupations, 
and went into politics. 7. Led the patriots against the 
soldiers, opposed the Stamp Act, and planned the Tea Party. 


Samuel Adams 


i39 


8 . Samuel Adams sent to Continental Congress where he made 
many friends, p. Urged a Declaration of Independence in 
1776 . 10 . Made governor of Massachusetts. 

Study Questions. 1 . What was the Stamp Act? 2. Why 
did men in America oppose this act? 3 . What did Patrick 
Henry say in his resolution and in his speech? 4 . Picture the 
scene while Patrick Henry spoke and afterwards. 5. Why did 
not the Americans like the tea tax? 6 . Why did not the 
king like the American “Tea Parties”? 7. What is a Con¬ 
gress, and why should Patrick Henry and Samuel Adams be¬ 
come good friends? 8 . Commit to memory a part of Henry’s 
famous “liberty or death” speech, p. How did the people 
trust Patrick Henry? 

10 . What did Samuel Adams do against the Stamp Act? 
11 . What was the 4 4 Circular Letter ’ ’ and why should the king be 
angry about it? 12 . Tell how Samuel Adams drove two regi¬ 
ments out of Boston. 13 . What caused a Congress ? 14 . Tell 

what Samuel and John Adams saw and did on their way to 
Philadelphia. 13 . Why were people glad to see Samuel 
Adams? 16 . What made war seem likely to happen at any 
time? 17. Read Longfellow’s poem, “The Midnight Ride of 
Paul Revere.” 18 . Give an account of the Battle of Lexington. 
iq . Picture the retreat from Concord to Boston. 20 . Picture 
the charge of the British soldiers at Bunker Hill. 21 . What 
did Samuel Adams hear on his way to the second Continental 
Congress? 22 . Who introduced the motion for independence 
into the Congress? 

Suggested Readings. Patrick Henry: Cooke, Stories of 
the Old Dominion , 158 - 180 ; Brooks, Century Book of Famous 
Americans , 93 - 101 ; Magill, Stories from Virginia History , 116 - 

128 . 

Samuel Adams: Dawes, Colonial Massachusetts, 42 - 72 ; 
Brooks, Century Book of Famous Americans, 10 - 30 ; Hart, 
Camps and Firesides of the Revolution, 162 - 166 ; Hawthorne, 
Grandfather's Chair , 153 - 189 , 205 , 206 . 


140 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

THE MEN WHO FOUGHT FOR AMERICAN INDE¬ 
PENDENCE WITH GUN AND SWORD 

GENERALS GREENE, MORGAN, AND MARION, THE MEN WHO 
HELPED WIN THE SOUTH FROM THE BRITISH 

92. The war in the South. Early in the Revolutionary 
War, British vessels made an attack on Charleston, 
South Carolina (1776). But Colonel Moultrie, from his 
rude fort of palmetto logs, gave them such a welcome 
that they were glad to get away, and for two years the 
British gave the southern colonies little trouble. 

But in 1778 another British army captured Savannah, 

Georgia. In 1780, the city 
of Charleston, South Caro¬ 
lina, with General Lincoln’s 
entire army, surrendered to 
Cornwallis. Congress then 
hastened General Gates to 
the South to check the 
British, but Cornwallis sur¬ 
prised Gates and cut his 
army to pieces near Camden. 

93. Nathanael Greene, 
the Quaker general. A more 
active commander was 
needed for the southern cam¬ 
paign. Washington chose 
Nathanael Greene, the 
“Quaker general,” to go 
south, take command of the 
American army, and watch Cornwallis, who had just 
defeated Gates. Greene was born in Rhode Island, and 



NATHANAEL GREENE 


From a painting by Charles Wilson Peale, 
once owned by Mrs. William Brenton 
Greene, Jr., in Princeton, New Jersey, 
and now in Independence Hall, 
Philadelphia 








Nathanael Greene 


141 


was ten years younger than Washington. His 
father was a farmer, a miner, and a blacksmith 
on week days, and a Quaker preacher on Sundays. 

As a boy Nathanael had plenty of hard work 
to do, and at thirteen could ‘ 4 only read, write, 
and cipher.” But he was hungry for more 
knowledge, and began to study Latin, mathe¬ 
matics, philosophy, and history. Besides, he 
made iron toys, and sold them to buy books. 
His family got into a lawsuit, and Nathanael 
took up the study of law. He was called the 
‘ ‘ learned blacksmith. ’ ’ 

When Greene saw that King George was likely 
to force the Americans to fight, he joined the 
militia and went to Boston to buy a musket, 
a very unusual thing for a man in Quaker dress 
to do. He hid the 
gun in his wagon. 

There he watched 
General Gage 
drilling British 
soldiers. He per¬ 
suaded one of 
them to drill his 
minutemen. 

When the stir¬ 
ring news from 
Lexington reach¬ 
ed him, Greene 


GREENES 

GUN 

Now in the 
possession of 
the Rhode Is¬ 
land Histor¬ 
ical Associa¬ 
tion 





GREENE CONCEALING THE MUSKET IN HIS WAGON 


was among the 
first to start for Boston, and there Washington found 
him when he arrived to take command of the army 






















142 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 



Greene was made one of Washington’s generals, and 
followed his great commander until Washington sent him 
to the South to win back that part of the country from 
Cornwallis. 

Although General Greene found but a small army in 
North Carolina, he knew that the Southern men would 
fight if they had a chance, for they had just killed or 

captured one thou¬ 
sand British sol¬ 
diers at the battle 
of Kings Mountain. 

Besides, he had 
some of the bravest 
and ablest lead¬ 
ers in America to 
help him. Among 
them were Daniel 
Morgan, Francis 
Marion, William 
Washing ton (a 
cousin of General 
Washington), 
Henry Lee (called 
“Light Horse 
Harry”), and 
Thomas Sumter. 

Greene divided 
his army into two 
parts. He took 
one thousand men 
and marched into northeastern South Carolina, where 
Marion and Lee, with small bands of cavalry, stole upon 


SCENE OF THE CAMPAIGNS IN THE SOUTH 













Daniel Morgan 


i 43 




T 

W \ 1 #Y 


the British outposts. In broad daylight they charged 
pell-mell into Georgetown, captured the officer in com¬ 
mand, and got safely away 
before the British were over 
their fright. 

Greene sent General Mor¬ 
gan and Colonel William 
Washington with nine hun¬ 
dred men into northwestern 
South Carolina to threaten 
some British posts, and to 
encourage the patriots in the ' 
mountains. V ery shortly 

after this, Colonel Washing¬ 
ton and his cavalry swooped 
down on a party of British 
soldiers and captured two Fr ° m Ancient Trum ' 

hundred and fifty of them. Ya “ UniversUy 

Cornwallis was now thoroughly roused, and resolved 
to put an end to such events. He therefore ordered his 
favorite cavalry officer, Colonel Tarleton, to take eleven 
hundred choice soldiers and capture Morgan and his men. 

94. General Morgan. But Morgan was not the kind 
of man to be caught napping. When a young man, he had 
fought the French and Indians on the Virginia frontier. 

He was at Braddock’s defeat. He had once knocked 
a British officer down for striking him. In an Indian 
fight he had been shot through the neck and thought 
himself dying, but, to escape being scalped, locked his 
arms tightly around his horse’s neck, while the horse 
ran wildly through the woods. 

At the head of a company of ninety-six Virginians, 


DANIEL MORGAN 


144 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 



MORGAN’S ESCAPE FROM THE INDIANS 


Morgan had marched six hundred miles in twenty-one 
days, and joined Washington at Boston. 

Later, Wash¬ 
ington sent him 
to join in the cap¬ 
ture of Burgoyne 
at Saratoga. His 
men did such 
splendid fighting 
that Burgoyne 
said to Morgan: 
‘ ‘ Sir, you com¬ 
mand the finest 
regiment in the 
world!” Fighting 
in the woods of America such a man was likely to be a 
match for any British officer. 

When Morgan heard of Tarleton’s approach he 
retreated to Cowpens. On the top of a long, rising slope, 
he placed the Continental troops — trained .fighters. In 
the rear he hid Colonel Washington and his cavalrymen. 

Some distance in front of the Continentals he placed 
the militia with orders not to retreat until they had fired 
twice. In front of the militia Morgan hid a company 
of deadly sharpshooters in the woods on the right and 
another company in the woods on the left. 

As soon as Tarleton’s men came in sight they charged 
pell-mell, thinking victory an easy matter. The militia 
and sharpshooters poured in their fire not only twice, 
but several times, and retreated behind the Continentals, 
who now poured deadly volleys into the ranks of the on¬ 
coming British, and then made at them with their bayonets. 





Daniel Morgan 


T 45 


Just at this moment, Colonel Washington’s cavalry 
dashed out and struck the right flank of the redcoats. 
In another moment the militia, which had re-formed and 
reloaded, rushed out and struck their left flank. Most 
of Tarleton’s men threw down their guns and surrendered 
on the spot. Only two hundred and seventy redcoats got 
away. Tarleton barely escaped after being wounded in 
a hand-to-hand sword fight with Colonel Washington. 

Tarleton was not permitted to forget his defeat. In 
conversation one day he remarked that he had never 
seen Colonel Washington. A patriotic lady present 
replied: “If you had only looked behind you at the 
battle of Cowpens, you would have had that pleasure.” 

The defeat of Tarleton at Cowpens roused Cornwallis. 



He destroyed all his heavy baggage, and started in hot 
haste after Morgan, but failed to catch him. 
































146 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

General Morgan, now broken in health by long years 
of hard fighting, retired to his home, “Soldiers’ Rest, 

in the Shenan¬ 
doah Valley. After 
the war was over 
his neighbors 
elected him to 
Congress, where 
he gave hearty 
support to Presi¬ 
dent Washington. 

When Daniel 
Morgan died he 
was followed to the grave by the largest procession that 
the valley had yet seen. The people, who had come from 
near and far, witnessed a touching sight. They saw 
seven gray-haired veterans, with old rifles in their hands, 
stand beside the grave of the hero and fire a military 
salute. They were the last of that hardy band of ninety- 
six which had marched with Morgan to Boston to join 
Washington, nearly thirty years before. This was their 
last military farewell! 

95. The Battle of Guilford Court House. General 
Greene kept on skillfully retreating. Finally he crossed 
into Virginia. He and his army were still among friends, 
and his army was growing. Cornwallis was hundreds 
of miles from his supplies and from reenforcements. After 
a few weeks, Greene crossed back into North Carolina 
and fiercely attacked Cornwallis at Guilford Court 
House, and killed or wounded one-fourth of his army. 

Cornwallis claimed the victory, but instead of attack¬ 
ing Greene he marched his army rapidly to Wilmington, 



THE LAST SALUTE TO MORGAN 





Francis Marion 


i 47 


on the seacoast, and from there marched into Virginia, 
where Washington and Lafayette caught him in a trap 
at Yorktown. 

Greene turned back to South Carolina, where the 
British still held Charleston and a few other towns. 
The British lost so many men at Hobkirk’s Hill, and at 
Eutaw Springs, their last important battles in the South, 
that they were compelled to retreat to Charleston, where 
they were when the news from Yorktown put an end to 
serious fighting. 

General Greene’s work as a soldier was done. Besides 
the medal presented to him by Congress for the battle of 
Eutaw Springs, South Carolina, as a token of affection, 
gave him a large sum of money, and the state of Georgia a 
beautiful plantation on the 
Savannah River, where he died 
in 1786. His fame as a sol¬ 
dier of the Revolution stands 
next to that of Washington. 

96. Francis Marion. Of all 
the men who helped Greene 
win back the South, none was 
braver than General Francis 
Marion, whom the British 
named the “Swamp Fox.” 

Marion was born in South Car¬ 
olina. His parents were French 
Huguenots. He was so small 
that people wondered how he 
could be so great a soldier. 

Marion’s “Brigade,” as his company was called, was 
made up of only a handful of men, usually less than one 



FRANCIS MARION 

After the portrait in the painting 
by T. Stothard, R.A. 



148 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


hundred. But they owned and rode the swiftest horses, 
carried their own guns, and wore their own swords 


hammered out of old saws 
by country blacksmiths. 



Marion and his men 
seldom were two nights 
in the same place. The 
night was their time to 
work. At sundown they 
swung into their saddles, 
and were soon riding for 
the enemy’s camp. When 
near, they quietly sur¬ 
rounded the camp, took 


one of Marion’s men 


aim by the light of the fires, fired, and then rushed up 
on the frightened British or Tories, and cut them down 
with their terrible broadswords. 

Before daybreak, Marion and his men were hiding 
safely in some distant swamp or other safe place. If the 
British chased him too closely his men scattered in 
different directions, but always made their way to the 
common hiding place. In a few days they were ready to 
strike again. 

Just after Cornwallis defeated Gates, near Camden, 
Marion pounced upon a guard of British soldiers that was 
taking one hundred and fifty prisoners to Charleston, 
captured them all, and set the prisoners free. 

At last Cornwallis ordered Colonel Tarleton to get 
“Mr. Marion,” as he called him. But before Tarleton 
could act Marion had fallen on a large party of Tories 
going to join Cornwallis, and killed, captured, or scattered 
the entire party. Tarleton chased Marion for twenty- 








Francis Marion 


149 


five miles, only to find a large swamp through which he 
could see neither road nor path. He gave up the chase 
in disgust, declaring he would pursue the “Swamp Fox” 
no farther. 

When Greene returned to the last campaign in South 
Carolina, he found no better, bolder, or more vigilant 
helpers than Marion and his “Brigade.” Greene gave 
Marion high praise, and Congress gave him a vote of thanks. 

Marion was the true soldier of liberty. He cared 
nothing for display, only for the success of the patriot 
cause. Marion thought of his men before himself, and 
was watchful, patient, and silent. He always struck 



“MARION AND HIS MEN” SURPRISE THE BRITISH 
Dashing out of the swamp, Marion fell upon the guard of a band of patriot prisoners, 
killed or captured the British, then set the prisoners to guarding the redcoats 


his foes where and when they did not look for him. If 
they were too strong he vanished like smoke in a breeze. 







150 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

Marion was as true and gentle as he was bold and 
brave. He was never cruel to prisoners, and was greatly 
opposed to punishing the Tories after the war was over. 
Marion’s neighbors often elected him to high office and 
in many other ways showed they admired him. 

During the war a British officer was invited to take 
dinner with Marion. What was his surprise to see only 
sweet potatoes, baked in the ashes, set before him. After 
this feast the officer resigned, saying it was useless trying 
to defeat such soldiers. 


SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL 

The Leading Facts. 1. Greene went to Boston, saw the 
British army, returned home and prepared his minutemen. 
2. Washington sent him to the Carolinas after the defeat of 
Gates, 3. When the American army retreated after the battle 
of Cowpens, Greene turned and fought the battles of Guilford 
Court House, Hobkirk’s Hill, and Eutaw Springs. 4. Daniel 
Morgan with ninety-six men marched from the Shenandoah 
Valley to Boston to join Washington. 5. He won the battle 
of Cowpens against Colonel Tarleton. 6. Francis Marion’s 
“Brigade” was a small number of men, mounted on their own 
horses, and armed with their own guns and swords. 7. Marion 
was called the “Swamp Fox,” because his men, attacking 
after nightfall, usually escaped to a swamp before daylight. 

Study Questions. 1. Where was Greene born and why was 
he called “the learned blacksmith”? 2. How did he get his 
company of minutemen drilled? 3. What leaders did Greene 
have to help him? 4. Who was General Morgan? 5. What 
did Burgoyne say to Morgan? 6. Explain how Morgan pre¬ 
pared for the battle of Cowpens. 7. Picture the battle. 8. 
What anecdote is told of Tarleton? g. Picture the scene at 
General Morgan’s burial. 10. How did Greene win a victory 
by retreating? 11. What became of Cornwallis after the 
battle of Guilford Court House? 12. What other battles did 
Greene fight? 13. What proofs of affection did South Caro¬ 
lina and Georgia give? 14. What is the rank of Greene as 


Suggestions Intended to Help the Pupil 151 

jfljk;. ' , ' 

a geheral? 15. How many men were there in Marion’s 
“Brigade,” how were they armed, and how did they fight? 
16. Why did Tarleton call Marion the “Swamp Fox”? 17. 
Who praised General Marion? 18. Read “The Song, of 
Marion’s Men,” by William Cullen Bryant. 

Suggested Readings. Nathanael Greene : Fiske, Irving’s 
Washington, 430-456; Francis V. Greene, General Greene, 1-22, 
94-105, 160-262; Frost, Heroes of the Revolution, 27-75. 

Daniel Morgan: Blaisdell and Ball, Hero Stories from 
American History, 105-122; Brooks, Century Book of the 
American Revolution, 168-173; Frost, Heroes of the Revolution, 
76-89. 

Francis Marion: McCrady, South Carolina in the Revolu¬ 
tion, 568-572, 577-652, 660-672, 748-752, 816-881. 


t 


*52 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


JOHN PAUL JONES, WHO HELPED WIN INDE¬ 
PENDENCE BY FIGHTING ENGLAND 

ON THE SEA 

• 

97. A Scotch boy comes to Virginia. In 1747, in 

far-away “bonnie” Scotland, on the arm of the sea called 
Solway Firth was born a boy who was to grow up to be 
a great sailor. John Paul played along the seashore, 
saw tali ships, and heard wonderful stories of a new land 
called America, whose ships filled with tobacco came into 
the firth. 

John Paul did not get much schooling, and at the age of 

thirteen he went as a sailor 
lad on the ship “Friend¬ 
ship” to America. The 
ship sailed into Chesa¬ 
peake Bay and up the 
Rappahannock River to 
the town of Fredericks¬ 
burg, Virginia, where John 

Paul’s brother William 

/ 

lived on a plantation. In 
this town where George 
Washington had been to 
school, John Paul also 
went to school, studied 
hard to make up for lost 
time, and left a great name 
among the boys. 

He loved the sea and 
made many voyages. After some years he came back to 
Virginia. While living there he watched the quarrel 



JOHN PAUL JONES 

From a painting by Charles Wilson Peale 
in Independence Hall, Philadelphia 







i 53 



THE FIRST AMERICAN ENSIGN 


John Paul Jones 

/ 

between England and her American colonies and saw 
it finally break out in open war. 

98. John Paul Jones 
enters the American navy. 

He hastened to Philadelphia 
and offered his services to 
Congress. He knew that 
England would send thou¬ 
sands of soldiers to America; 
and that she would send 
her warships along our 
seacoasts and up and down 
our bays and rivers, to 

capture and burn our towns. ThiSt lhe firsl lo fioat abme an American 
He also knew that Congress b > J ° h « P™ 1 J ° 

did not own a single warship when the war began. 

Congress ordered warships to be built. While these 
were being made, trading vessels were fitted with cannon 
and sent out to capture British ships. 

When John Paul went to Philadelphia he gave his name 
as Paul Jones, probably in honor of Willie Jones, a friend 
who lived in North Carolina. 

Although Paul Jones really knew more about war¬ 
ships than most of the men in Philadelphia, Congress 
gave him a very low office. But that made no difference 
with him, for he really wanted to get into a sea fight. In 
1775 he was made a lieutenant, and joined an expedition 
to capture cannon and powder from the British in the 
West Indies. He did so well that Congress made him 
captain and gave him a ship. He then went on a cruise 
to the West Indies, 'and in six weeks had captured 
sixteen prizes and destroyed a number of small vessels. 


























154 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 



MARINE CANDLESTICK 

From, man-of-war 
“ Constitution ” 


Congress afterward gave Paul Jones command of the 
ship “Ranger,” and sent him to carry letters to Benjamin 

Franklin, who was in France trying to 
get the king to take sides with the 
Americans. 

Franklin planned for him to take the 
“Ranger” to the coast of England, and 
show that American as well as English 
ships could burn, destroy, and fight. 
He captured two vessels, made straight 
for his old town of Whitehaven, ‘ ‘ spiked’ ’ 
the cannon in the fort, set some ships 
on fire, and escaped without harm. 

Near this place, his sailors took all 
the silver from the home of a rich lady. 
This robbery troubled him so much that afterward, 
at great expense to himself, he returned the silver to 
its owner. 

“Look out for Paul Jones, the pirate!” the people 
said; and the “Drake,” carrying two more cannon than 
the “Ranger,” was sent to capture her. Five boat loads 
of people went to see the pirate captured. 

The fight lasted more than an hour. 

When the “Drake” surrendered, her 
captain and forty-two men had been 
killed. The ‘ ‘ Ranger ’ ’ had lost only two 
men. After this fight the English towns 
were still more afraid of Paul Jones. 

There was great joy in France when he 
sailed into port. The king, who was 
now making war on England, promised him a larger fleet 
of war vessels. So, in the year 1779, he found himself 



NAVAL PITCHER 
This was made in com¬ 
memoration of the 
A merican Navy, 1795 














John Paul]Jones 


155 



THE CAPTURE OF THE "SERAPIS’ 

Because of this victory three nations, France, Russia, and 
Denmark, bestowed special honors upon John Paul Jones 
as “the valiant asset tor of the freedom of the sea” 


captain of a large ship armed with fifty cannon. He 
called the ship the “Bon Homme Richard” in honor of 
Franklin’s Alma¬ 
nac , the ‘ ‘ Poor 
Richard.” Three 
smaller vessels 
joined him, and 
he again set sail 
for the English 
coast. The news 
of his coming 
caused great 
alarm. 

99. A great sea 
fight and a great victory. As Paul Jones sailed along 
the British coasts he captured many trading ships and 
frightened the people. At last he came upon two British 
warships. Just at dark the “Richard” attacked the 
larger English ship, the “Serapis.” At the first fire two 
of Jones’s cannon burst, tearing up the deck and killing 
a dozen of his own men. 

The fight went on for an hour, when the “Serapis” 
came near, and Jones ran the “Richard” into her. 
“Have you struck your colors?” called out the English 
captain. “I have not yet begun to fight!” replied Cap¬ 
tain Jones. When the ships came together again Paul 
Jones himself seized a great rope and tied them together. 
Now the fighting was terrific. The cannon tore huge 
holes in the sides of the ships. 

A great explosion on the “Serapis” killed twenty of 
her men. Both ships were on fire, and the “Richard” 
began to fill with water. The men on each ship had to 










156 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

fight fire. It was ten o’clock at night. The British 
prisoners on the “Richard” had to help pump out water 
to keep the ship from sinking. 

Only a few cannon on each ship could be fired. The 
decks of both ships were covered with dead and wounded, 
but neither captain would give up. Finally Paul Jones, 
with his own hands, pointed two cannon at the great mast 
of the “Serapis.” Just as it was about to fall, the English 
captain surrendered. 

All night Jones and his men were kept busy fighting 
fire and pumping water, while the wounded were removed 
to the “Serapis.” 

The “Bon Homme Richard” sank the next day at ten 
o’clock. Paul Jones sailed to France with his two English 
ships, where he was praised and rewarded by the king of 
France. He was a great hero in the eyes of the French 
people, and in the eyes of the Americans, too. 

After the war Paul Jones was an officer in the Prussian 
navy. He died in France in 1792. His grave was for¬ 
gotten for many years, but was discovered in 1905, and 
his bones were brought to America with great honor, 
and buried at Annapolis, Maryland. 


SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL 

The Leading Facts. 1. John Paul was born in Scotland, 

became a sailor and went to America. 2. He was in America 
when war broke out, offered his services, and was made lieuten¬ 
ant. 3. Congress sent him to France, and Franklin sent him 
to prey on English commerce. 4. Paul Jones won the great 
sea fight in the “Bon Homme Richard.” 

Study Questions. 7. Give an account of John Paul’s boy¬ 
hood. 2. What of his first visit to America? 3. Why did 
he hasten to Congress as soon as war began? 4. How did 


Marquis de Lafayette 


G 7 


Paul Jones prove his right to be captain? 5. Tell the story 
of the battle between the “Drake” and the “Ranger.” 
6. Picture the battle between the “Bon Homme Richard” and 
the “Serapis.” 7. What rewards came to Paul Jones? 
8. Where is he buried? 

Suggested Readings. Paul Jones: Beebe, Four American 
Naval Heroes, 17-68; Abbot, Blue Jackets of '76, 83-154; 
Frothingham, Sea Fighters, 226-266; Hart, Camps and Firesides 
of the American Revolution, 285-289; Hart, How Our Grand¬ 
fathers Lived, 217-219; Seawell, Paid Jones. 


A FRENCHMAN WHO CAME OVER THE SEA 
TO HELP WASHINGTON WIN 
INDEPENDENCE 

MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE 

100. Lafayette helps Washington win victory. The 

most famous of the men who came from Europe to fight 
in the army of Washington was Lafayette. He was 
a young French nobleman, and had inherited great 
riches. 

When he heard of the Battle of Lexington, and how the 
American farmers had beaten the king’s regulars, he made 
up his mind to go to help them. In order to do this 
Lafayette fitted out a vessel at his own expense, and 
with eleven other officers, including De Kalb, set sail for 
America. 

Congress made Lafayette a general in the Continental 
army, and the next day he was presented to General 
Washington. Very soon he was in the Battle of Brandy¬ 
wine, where he was wounded while trying to rally his 
troops. 

After he got well, Washington put him in command of a 
part of his army at Valley Forge. He took part in 



158 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

several battles with the British, the most important one 

Lafayette now went to Rhode 
Island to help the patriots in 
that section. For his work 
there Congress gave him a 
vote of thanks. 

In 1779, he was welcomed 
home by his family. Through 
his influence France sent 
Rochambeau over with six 
thousand troops to help the 
Americans. 

On Lafayette’s return to 
America, Washington sent 
him to Virginia to face Lord 
jean paul lafayette Cornwallis, who had just 

From a painting by Samuel F. B Morse in 

the Mayor's Room . New York City Hall QOme from North Carolina. 

After receiving more soldiers Lafayette followed Corn¬ 
wallis to Yorktown. Here, we remember, Washington 
with Lafayette’s aid caught Cornwallis in his “mouse 
trap. ” 

101. His later life. A few years after his return to 
France, the people of that country rose and overthrew 
their king. Lafayette was made commander in chief of the 
National Guard. The king and queen were placed under 
his protection. , He promised the people that the king and 
queen would not run away. They did try to, but were 
caught and brought back. Lafayette was blamed for 
this, and for a time he was unjustly kept in prison. 

Washington wrote letters asking that Marquis de 
Lafayette be sent to the United States. Many others 
wrote in his behalf, but the ruler of Austria was hard- 


being that of Monmouth. 




Marquis de Lafayette 


159 


hearted and would not let him go. It was not until 
many years afterward that the great Napoleon made 
peace with Austria and set Lafayette free. 

In 1824 he came to the United States upon invitation 
from President Monroe, and in the White House cele¬ 
brated his sixty-sixth birthday with great ceremony. He 
made visits to every state in the Union, being welcomed 
in the new states as well as in the old. He visited all 
the Revolutionary battlefields, and wept over the grave 
of Washington at Mount Vernon, and over that of his 
own brave countryman, De Kalb, at Camden, South 
Carolina. 

Before Lafayette went home Congress voted him two 
hundred thousand dollars and twenty-four thousand acres 



LAFAYETTE AT MOUNT VERNON 

After a painting by Rossiler and Mignot 


of land. He returned to France bearing the gratitude 
and love of every American. 









































i6o 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 



He died in 1834, mourned by many people. He left 
a son named after George Washington, and two daugh¬ 
ters also, one of whom 
was called Virginia. 
A monument to La¬ 
fayette, given by the 
school children of 
America, was placed 
in a beautiful park 
of Paris at the time 
of the great French 


LAFAYETTE AT THE TOMB OF WASHINGTON 


Exposition. 


SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL 

The Leading Facts, 1. The Battle of Lexington aroused 
Lafayette and others to come to America. 2. Lafayette was 
wounded at the Battle of Brandywine, went to Rhode Island 
to help the patriots there, and returned home to influence the 
king of France to send Rochambeau to America. 3. Lafayette 
prepared the way for the capture of Cornwallis. 4. Lafayette 
took part in the French Revolution, returned to America in 
1824, and received many tokens of affection. 

Study Questions. 1. Who came with Lafayette to help 
the Americans? 2. In what battles did Lafayette fight before 
the Cornwallis campaign? 3. Where was he sent after his 
return from France? 4. What happened after his return to 
France? 5. How old was Lafayette when he came for his 
last visit, and what men were dead whom he loved ? 6. How 

many states did he visit? 7. Whose graves did he visit? 
8. How did Congress manifest its love for Lafayette? 

Suggested Readings. Lafayette: Glascock, Stories of 
Columbia , 114-126; Blaisdell and Ball, Hero Stories from 
American History , 199-216; Brooks, True Story of Lafayette. 








Daniel Boone 


161 


THE MEN WHO CROSSED THE MOUNTAINS, 
DEFEATED THE INDIANS AND BRITISH, AND 
MADE THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER THE FIRST 
WESTERN BOUNDARY OF THE 
UNITED STATES 

DANIEL BOONE, THE HUNTER AND PIONEER OF KENTUCKY 

102. A famous frontier hero. Daniel Boone was born 
in Pennsylvania in 1735. He was only three years 
younger than Washington. While yet a boy he loved 
the woods, and often spent days deep in the forest with 
no companion but his rifle and dog. 

Boone’s parents moved to North Carolina and settled 
on the Yadkin River, 
age of twenty, and, 
pioneer-like, moved 
farther into the 
forest, where people 
were scarcer and 
game more plentiful. 

He built a log cabin 
for his bride, and 
made a “clearing” 
for raising corn and 
vegetables. But his 
trusty rifle furnished 
their table with 
various kinds of 
wild meat, such as 
bear, deer, squirrel, 
and turkey. 

In 1760, Boone, with a friend, crossed the mountains to 
the Watauga in east Tennessee, on a hunting expedition, 


There he married at the early 



BOONE AND HIS BEAR TREE 













162 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

where he killed a bear and cut the date of the event on a 
tree, which still stands on Boone’s Creek in Tennessee. 

One of Boone’s hunter friends came back from a 
journey across the Cumberland Mountains and told of the 
beauty of the land beyond. Boone was eager to go. 
Too many people were settling near him. 

103. Boone goes to the land of canebrake and blue 
grass. So with five companions he set out. Over moun¬ 
tains they went, across rivers, through deep forests. 
Finally they reached the beautiful land of Kentucky. 
They built a log camp and spent several months enjoying 
the wild life so dear to the hunter. 

But danger from the Indians was present every 

/ 

moment. Day and night, sleeping in their camp or 
tramping through the woods, the hunters had to be ready 
for the death grapple. One day Boone and a companion 
named Stewart were off their guard. The Indians rushed 
upon them and captured them. 

Boone and his companion understood the ways of the 
Indians and won their confidence. One night, as the 
savages slept around the camp fire, Boone arose and 
quietly awoke Stewart. They stole silently from the 
camp and hastened away. 

Other hardy pioneers heard of the fine lands and 
planned to go there. Richard Henderson, a rich planter, 
claimed a great tract of land in Kentucky, and put Boone 
at the head of thirty men to cut and blaze a road from the 
Holston River over the mountains, through Cumberland 
Gap to the Kentucky River. The result was the famous 
“Wilderness Road,” the first road across the mountains, 
over which hundreds of pack horses and thousands of 
settlers made their way. 


Daniel Boone 


163 





FORT BOONESBORO IN WINTER 

After the plan by Colonel Henderson in Collins' 
“Historical Collections of Kentucky" 


^hen the road was finished to the banks of the 
Kentucky River, Daniel Boone built Fort Boonesboro. 
The fort was about 
two hundred and 
sixty feet long, 
and one hundred 
and fifty feet wide. 

At each corner of 
it stood a two- 
story blockhouse, 
with loopholes 
through which 
the settlers could 
shoot at Indians. 

Cabins with loopholes were built along the sides of the 
fort. Between the cabins a high fence was made by 
sinking log posts into the ground. Two heavy gates 
were built on opposite sides of the fort. Every night 
the horses and cattle were driven inside the fort. 

104. Boone takes his family to Kentucky. When the 
fort was finished Boone brought his family, and several 
others, over the mountains to his “second Paradise.” 
Other settlers came and Boonesboro began to grow. 
Some of the bolder settlers built cabins outside of the 
fort, where they cut away and burned the trees to raise 
corn and vegetables. 

To the Indian all this seemed to threaten his hunting 
ground. The red men were anxious, therefore, to kill and 
scalp these pioneers. One day, Boone’s daughter and two 
girl friends were out late in a boat near the shore opposite 
the fort when the Indians suddenly seized the girls and 
hastened away with them. The people heard their 













164 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

screams for help, but too late to risk crossing the river 
to save them. 

What sorrow in the fort that night! Had the Indians 
scalped the girls, or were they hastening to cross the 
Ohio with them? The next day Boone with eight men 
seized their guns, found the Indian trail, and marched 
with all speed. What if the Indians should see the white 
men first! On the second day Boone’s party came upon 
the Indians building a fire, and fired before they were 
seen. Two of the Indians fell, and the others ran away, 
leaving the girls behind, unharmed, but badly frightened. 

105. Escapes from Indians. The War of the Revo¬ 
lution was already raging east of the mountains, and the 
Indians were taking the side of the British. 

While making salt at the “Blue Licks,” Boone and 
twenty-seven of his men were captured by the Indians 

and marched 
all the way to 
Detroit, the 
headquarters of 
the British army 
in the North- 
west. The 
British offered 
the Indians five 
hundred dol¬ 
lars for Boone, 
but the savages 
were too proud of 
their great pris¬ 
oner to sell him, and marched him back to their towns in 
what is now Ohio. 



BOONE AND HIS MEN TRAILING THE INDIANS 


( 







Daniel Boone 


165 

Here he was adopted by an Indian chief. They 
plucked out all of Boone’s hair except a “scalp lock,” 
which they ornamented with feathers. They painted 
and dressed him like an Indian. His new parents were 
quite proud of their son. Sometimes he went hunting 
alone, but the Indians counted his bullets and measured 
his powder. But Boone was too shrewd for them. He 
cut the bullets in two, and used half charges of powder. 

One day he saw four hundred and fifty painted warriors 
getting ready to march against Boonesboro. He went 
hunting that day, but he did not come back. What 
excitement in that Indian town! Soon the woods were 
full of Indians hunting for Boone. In five days—with 
but one meal—he reached Boonesboro. 

All hand's fell to repairing the fort. The horses, cattle, 
and provisions were brought inside the fort, and water 
was brought from the river. 

The Indians came, and Boone’s “Indian father” 
called on him to surrender. Boone asked for two days 
to think about it, but he used this time in getting ready 
to fight. At the end of the two days Boone told him 
that his men would fight to the last. 

The Indians then proposed that twelve from each side 
meet to make a treaty of peace. Boone took his strong¬ 
est men. While parleying, each Indian suddenly seized 
a white man. The white men broke away, and ran for 
the fort. Boone’s riflemen were ready, and poured a hot 
fire into the Indians. 

The Indians climbed into trees to shoot down into the 
fort. They tried to set the fort on fire, but failed. They 
then tried to dig a tunnel under the fort, but that failed 
also. 




166 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

After nine days of failure, and after losing many 
warriors, the Indians gave up the fight and recrossed the 

Ohio. Although the settlers 
had to keep a daily watch for 
Indians, and had to fight 
them in other parts of Ken¬ 
tucky, the Indians never 
attacked Boonesboro again. 

106. Last days. During 
the Revolutionary War 
other men came as pioneers 
into Kentucky, and built 
forts, and defended their settle¬ 
ments against the Indians. 
As the settlements grew 
thicker, game grew scarcer. 
Boone resolved once more to 
move farther west. When 
asked why, he replied: “Too 
elbow room.” 

At the age of sixty, while Washington was still Presi¬ 
dent, and after he had seen Kentucky become a state, 
Daniel Boone and his faithful wife made the long journey 
to the region beyond the Mississippi, into what is now 
Missouri. He saw this region pass from Spain to 
France, and from France to the United States (1803). 
He was still a hunter at eighty-two, and saw Missouri 
preparing to enter the Union as the twenty-fourth state. 

He died in 1820 at the age of eighty-six. Years after¬ 
ward, remembering the noble deeds of the famous pioneer, 
Kentucky brought his body to the capital city and buried 
it there with great honors. 



DANIEL BOONE 

From a portrait made in 1819 when 
Boone was 85 years old, painted by 
Chester Harding, and now in possession 
of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 
Boston, Massachusetts 

crowded. I want more 












John Sevier 


167 


JOHN SEVIER, “NOLICHUCKY JACK ” 

107. A famous Indian fighter. John Sevier was born 
in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, in 1745. His mother 
taught him to read, but he obtained most of his schooling 
in George Washington’s old school town, Fredericksburg. 
He quit school at sixteen. He built a fort-like storehouse 
on the Shenandoah and called it Newmarket. He lived 
there, selling goods and fighting Indians, until, at the 
early age of twenty-six, he was a wealthy man. He 
had already made such a name as an Indian fighter that 
the governor made him captain in the militia of which 
George Washington was then colonel. 

Sevier was a fine-looking man. He was tall, slender, 
erect, graceful in action, 
fair skinned, blue eyed, 
andhad pleasingmanners, 
which had come to him 
from his French parents. 

He charmed everybody 
who met him, from back¬ 
woodsmen up to the 
king’s governor at 
Williamsburg, the capi¬ 
tal of Virginia. 

A most promising 
future opened before 
him in Virginia. But 
hearing of a band of 
pioneers on the Watauga, 
he rode over one day to 
see them and resolved to cast his lot with them and 
settle down at Watauga. 



JOHN SEVIER 

After an engraving from a miniature now in 
possession of one of his descendants at 
New York 





i68 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 



KATE SHERRILL RACING FOR LIFE 


During the Revolutionary War, British agents went 
among the Cherokee Indians and gave them guns and 

ammunition. 

71 

' Indian-like, they 
planned to take 

Fort Watauga by 
surprise. They 
came creeping up 
to the fort one 
morning just at 

daybreak. Forty 
deadly rifles sud¬ 
denly blazed from 
portholes and drove them back to the woods. During 
the siege of three weeks, food grew scarce at the fort, 

and the men grew tired of being cooped up so long. 

Some of them ventured out and were shot or had very 
narrow escapes from death. 

The story is told that Sevier, during the siege, fell in 
love with the beautiful, tall, brown-haired Kate Sherrill. 
One day she ventured out of the fort. It was a daring 
act, for four men had lost their lives in that way. The 
Indians tried to catch the girl, for they did not want to 
kill her. But she could run like a deer, and almost 
flew to the fort. Sevier was watching and shot the 
Indian nearest her. The gate was closed but she jumped 
with all her might, seized the top of the stockade, drew 
herself up, and sprang into the arms of Sevier. Not 
long after she became his wife. 

In 1778, Sevier heard that the Indians were coming 
again. He quickly called his men together, took boats, 
and paddled rapidly down the Tennessee to the Indian 












John Sevier 


169 


towns. He burned the towns, captured their store of 
hides, and marched home on foot. How surprised the 
Indians were when they returned! 

108. Nolichucky Jack. The Watauga settlement was 
growing in numbers, and Sevier went to live on the Noli¬ 
chucky, a branch of the French Broad River. There he 
built a large log house, or rather two houses, and joined 
them by a covered porch. Outside were large porches, 
while inside were great stone fireplaces. 

Here Sevier gave hearty welcome to friend and stranger, 
no matter how poor, if they were honest. The settlers 
far and wide, and new settlers from over the mountains, 
partook of his cider, hominy, corn bread, and of wild 
meat of many kinds. Sometimes he invited them with 
their families to a barbecue. Whether people came for 
advice or to call him to arms against the Indians, no one 
was turned away. “Nolichucky Jack,” as his neighbors 
loved to call him, held a warm place in every settler’s heart. 

109. Battle of Kings Mountain. In 1780, Cornwallis, 
then victorious in South Carolina, sent Colonel Ferguson 
with one thousand British soldiers into western North 
Carolina to punish the backwoodsmen. Ferguson grew 
bold, and sent word across the mountains, threatening to 
punish Sevier and his riflemen. This threat was enough. 
Colonel Shelby of Kentucky and Sevier resolved to rouse 
the frontiersmen, cross the mountains, and teach Colonel 
Ferguson a lesson. Colonel Campbell with his men from 
the Holston in Virginia, joined them. A thousand well- 
mounted backwoodsmen, with their long rifles, fringed 
hunting shirts, and coonskin caps, began the march from 
the Watauga across the mountains. Once across they 
were joined by several hundred Carolinians. Ferguson 


< 


170 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

\ 

retreated to Kings Mountain, too steep on one side to be 
climbed. He felt safe behind his thousand gleaming 
bayonets. 

The backwoodsmen picked nine hundred men to make 
the charge up the mountain in face of the bayonets, 
although among themselves there was not a bayonet. 
Three divisions, one for each side of the mountain, marched 
up*. Down the mountain side came the flashing bayonets. 
The backwoodsmen in the center retreated from tree to 
tree, firing steadily all the time. The British, now shot at 
from both sides as well as in front, turned and charged 
at one side. Then one division fired into their backs 



the battle of kings mountain 

Where goo frontiersmen attacked and totally destroyed 1,000 British soldiers entrenched 

and better armed 


and the other on their side. What could bayonets do in 
the midst of trees? 















John Sevier 



171 

The frontiersmen kept to trees, and their rifles seldom 
missed their aim. The British retreated to the top of the 
mountain. Colonel 
Ferguson was 
killed and his 
entire army was 
killed or captured. 

This victory 
caused great 
rejoicing among 
the Americans and 
prepared the way 
for the work of 
Generals Greene 

and Morgan. “nolichucky jack’s a-coming” 

Scvifir and ^ evter welcomed by the congregation of the country church 

Campbell hastened back over the mountains, for the 
Indians were scalping and burning again. With seven 
hundred riflemen, they marched against the Indian 
towns and burned a thousand cabins and fifty thou¬ 
sand bushels of corn. This was a hard blow, but the 
Indians kept fighting several years longer. 

Sevier, in all, fought thirty-five battles. He was the' 
most famous Indian fighter of his time. 

no. A much-loved hero. When Tennessee became a 
state the people elected Sevier governor. They reelected 
him until he had held the office for twelve years. The 
people of Tennessee almost worshiped the bold pioneer. 
He had spent all his time and all his wealth in their 
service. And while he was governor, and living in Knox¬ 
ville, the early capital, one or more of his old riflemen 
were always living at his old home. Even the Indian 










172 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

chiefs often came to visit him. When the people of 
Tennessee were debating questions of great importance 
they always asked: “What says the good old governor?” 

vSevier died in 1815, while acting as an officer in mark¬ 
ing the boundary line between Georgia and the Indian 
lands. Only a few soldiers and Indians were present. 
For generations the children of the pioneers went on 
repeating to their children the story of the courage and 
goodness of “Nolichucky Jack.” His name is yet a 
household word among the people of eastern Tennessee. 
Their children are taught the story of his life. In the 
courthouse yard at Knoxville stands a monument erected 
to his memory. 

GEORGE ROGERS CLARK, THE HERO OF VINCENNES 

hi. A successful leader against the Indians. George 
Rogers Clark was born in Virginia in 1752. From child¬ 
hood Clark liked to roam the woods. He became a 
surveyor and an Indian fighter at the age of twenty-one. 
Like Washington, with chain and compass, and with 
axe and rifle, he made his way far into the wild and 
lonely forests of the upper Ohio. 

Clark was a scout for the governor of Virginia in the 
expedition which defeated Cornstalk, the great Indian 
chief of the Shawnees, at the mouth of the Kanawha. 

Two years later Clark made his way alone over the 
mountains and became a leader in Kentucky, along with 
Boone. The Kentucky hunters chose him to go to 
Virginia as their lawmaker. 

He told Governor Patrick Henry that if Kentucky 
was not worth defending against the Indians, it was not 
worth having. At this the Virginia lawmakers made 


George Rogers Clark 




Kentucky into a Virginia county and gave Clark five 
hundred pounds of powder which he carried down the 
Ohio River to 
Kentucky. 

He lived at 
Harrodsburg 
where, for more 
than a year, he 
was kept busy 
helping the set¬ 
tlers fight off the 
Indians. This 
was the very 
time when 
Boonesboro and 
other settlements 
were so often surrounded by Indians who had been 
aroused by the British officers at Detroit. These 
officers paid a certain sum for each scalp the Indians 
brought them. 

112. Plans a blow against the British. After having 
seen brave men and women scalped by the Indians, 
Clark decided to strike a blow at the British across the 
Ohio. But where could he find money and men for an 
army? Kentucky did not have men enough. Clark 
thought of - that noble patriot across the mountains, 
Patrick Henry. He mounted his horse and guided some 
settlers back to Virginia, but kept his secret. In Virginia 
he heard the good news that Burgoyne had surrendered. 

Governor Henry was heart and soul for Clark’s plan. 
He made Clark a colonel, gave him six thousand dollars 
and ordered him to raise an army to defend Kentucky. 



INDIANS ATTACKING A FORT 

Again and again, when a surprise was not possible, the 
Indians from safe hiding places picked off the 
. men in a garrison 























174 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


In May, 1778, Clark’s little army of about one hundred 
and fifty men with several families took their flatboats 
and floated down the Monongahela to Fort Pitt. Clark 
did not dare tell the riflemen where they were going, for 
fear the British might get the word. Here they took 
on supplies and a few small cannon. 

On they floated in the middle of the river to keep away 
from the Indians who might be hiding in the dark 
forests on the river banks. At the falls of the Ohio, on 
Corn Island, Clark landed his party. He built a block¬ 
house and cabins, and drilled the riflemen into soldiers 
while the settlers planted corn. This was the beginning 
of the city of Louisville. 

113. Captures Kaskaskia. One day Clark called his 

men together and told them the secret—he was really 
leading them against the British forts on the Illinois 
and the Wabash rivers. 

A few of the men refused to go so far from home—a 
thousand miles*—but the rest were willing to follow 
their leader. 

In June, Clark’s boats “shot the falls” and were soon 
at the mouth of the Tennessee, where a band of hunters 
joined the party. There Clark hid the boats and began 
the long march through tangled forests and over grand 
prairies. They did not know what minute the Indians 
might attack, or some British scout discover them and 
carry the news to General Hamilton at Detroit. 

They reached the old French town of Kaskaskia at 
dusk on July 4. They did not dare give a shout or fire 
a gun, for the British officer had more men than Clark. 

Clark sent part of his men silently to surround the 
town, while he led the others to the fort, where they heard 



1 / 



for their lives. Imagine their surprise and joy when 
Clark told them that not only were their lives safe, but 


George Rogers Clark 175 

the merry music of the violin and the voices of the 
dancers. 

Clark himself slipped into the great hall, folded his 
arms, and looked in silence on the dimly lighted scene. 
An Indian lying on the floor saw Clark’s face by the light 
of the torches. He sprang to his feet, and gave the 
terrible war whoop. Instantly the dancing ceased, the 
women screamed, and the men rushed toward Clark. 
But Clark simply said: “Go on with your dance, but 
remember that you dance under Virginia and not under 
Great Britain!” The British general surrendered, and 
the French inhabitants trembled when they learned that 
the backwoodsmen had captured the town. They sent 
their priest, Father Gibault, and other chief men to beg 


CLARK’S SURPRISE AT KASKASKIA 















































176 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


that the new republic made war on no church, and 
protected all from insult. 


He also told them that 
the king of France had 
made a treaty with the 
United States and was 
sending his great war¬ 
ships and soldiers to help 
America. The town of 
Cahokia also surrendered. 



114. The struggle for 
Vincennes, and its 
results. Father Gibault 
went to Vincennes to tell 
the French settlers about 
the doings of Clark and 
to give them the news 
that France had taken 
sides with the Americans. 


GEORGE ROGERS CLARK 

From a painting on wood by John Wesley 
Jarvis, now in the State Library at 
Richmond, Virginia 


The people rejoiced and ran up the American flag. Clark 
sent Captain Helm to command the fort. 

General Hamilton at Detroit was busy planning to 
attack Fort Pitt and to encourage the Ohio Indians to 
kill and scalp Kentuckians. 

How astonished he was when he heard that the forts 
on the Illinois and the Wabash had fallen! He gathered 
a mixed army of British, Canadians, and Indians, crossed 
Lake Erie to the mouth of the Maumee, and “poled” 
and paddled up that river to the portage. Down the 
Wabash they floated, five hundred strong. Vincennes 
surrendered without a blow. Hamilton decided to stay 
there for the winter and march against Clark in the 








George Rogers Clark 


177 


spring. This was a blunder. He did not yet know 
Clark and his backwoodsmen. 

“I must take Hamilton or Hamilton will take me,” 
said Clark, when he heard the news. He immediately 
set to work to build a rude sort of gunboat, which he 
fitted out with his cannon and about forty men. He 
% sent the “Willing,” as it was called, down the Mississippi, 
around into the Ohio, and up the Wabash to meet him 
at Vincennes. 

All was excitement in the French towns. Forty or 
fifty French settlers joined Clark’s backwoods riflemen. 
Father Gibault gave them his blessing and the march 
overland to Vincennes began. 

Clark divided his men into parties. Each, in its turn, 



CLARK’S MEN ON THEIR WAY THROUGH THE DROWNED LANDS OF THE WABASH VALLEY 


did the hunting, and at night invited the others to sit 
around great camp fires and feast on “bear ham, buffalo 



























178 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

hump, elk saddle, and venison haunch.” They ate, sang, 

No doubt they often talked 
of their loved ones far away 
in Virginia and Kentucky. 

On they pushed until they 
came to the “drowned lands 
of the Wabash,” and there 

0 

they saw miles and miles of 
muddy water. They made a 
rude boat to carry them over 
the deepest parts. The horses 
had to swim. 

Sometimes, after wading all 
day, they could hardly find a 
dry spot to camp for the night. 
Some grew too weak to wade 
and were carried in boats. 
The stronger sang songs to 
keep up the courage of the 
weak. When they finally 
reached the opposite shore of the Wabash many fell, 
worn out — some lying partly in the water. 

Those who were well built fires and warmed and fed 
the faint ones on hot deer broth. But these brave men 
soon forgot their hardships and again were full of fight. 

Clark sent a letter to the people of Vincennes telling 
them he was about to attack the town. He advised all 
friends of America to remain quietly in their homes, and 
asked all friends of the British to go to the fort and join 
the “hair-buyer,” as the backwoodsmen called Hamilton. 

At dark, Clark’s men charged into the town and 
attacked the fort. The fight went on all night. As 


danced, and told stories. 



THE BIG TROOPER CARRIED THE 
DRUMMER BOY 
































George Rogers Clark 


179 


soon as it was daylight the backwoodsmen fired through 
the portholes and drove the gunners from the cannon. 

Clark’s men begged to storm the fort. Only one 
American had been wounded, but several British soldiers 
had been killed and others wounded. In the afternoon 
Hamilton surrendered and once more the Stars and 
Stripes floated over “old Vincennes.” 

The “Willing” appeared in a few days. Her men were 
disappointed because they were too late to take part. 

Clark put men -in the forts at Kaskaskia, Cahokia, 
and Vincennes, and made peace with the Indians round 



EXPEDITIONS TO THE WEST AND THE SCENE OF GEORGE ROGERS CLARK’S CAMPAIGN 












iSo Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

them. But lie was never able to march against Detroit, 
as once he had planned to do. 

Virginia rewarded the brave men who had followed 
Clark by giving to each three hundred acres of land in 
southern Indiana. The land was surveyed, and is known 
today as “Clark’s Giant.” 

Clark and his men had performed one of the greatest 
deeds of the Revolutionary War. They made it possible 
for the United States to have the Mississippi River for 
her western boundary, when England acknowledged our 
independence. 

George Rogers Clark was never properly rewarded. 
He spent his last days in poverty at the falls of the Ohio, 
on Corn Island, and died in 1818. In 1895 a monument 
was erected in his memory in Indianapolis, Indiana. 

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL 

The Leading Facts 1. Boone loved the woods, crossed the 
mountains into east Tennessee, and later went to Kentucky. 
2. He was captured by the Indians, but finally escaped. 
j. Boone built the “Wilderness Road” and Fort Boonesboro. 
4. Boone took part in the War of the Revolution, was captured 
by the Indians, carried to Detroit, but escaped. 

5. John Sevier studied at Fredericksburg; fought Indians 
in the Shenandoah. 6. He went to Watauga; defended it 
against the Indians. 7. Sevier helped to win the victory at 
Kings Mountain. 8. He was many times governor of Tennessee. 

p. George Rogers Clark loved the woods; was a surveyor 
and an Indian fighter at twenty-one. 10. Moved to Kentucky, 
saw men and women scalped, and resolved to capture the 
British posts north of the Ohio. n. Clark received permission 
from Patrick Henry, collected his little army, and floated down 
the Ohio to the falls. 12. He drilled his men and set out for 
Kaskaskia, which he captured, ij. Clark marched for Vin¬ 
cennes through the drowned lands, captured Vincennes. 
14. Clark was not rewarded by the government, but the state 
of Indiana has erected a great monument to his memory. 


Suggestions Intended to Help the Pupil 181 

Study Questions, i. What did Boone do that was pioneer¬ 
like? 2. What was the country doing in 1760? 3. Tell the 
story of Boone’s first visit to Kentucky. 4. Picture the capture 
and escape of Boone and Stewart. 5. Find the places on the 
map which are named on Boone’s Wilderness Road. 6. Tell 
the story of the capture and rescue of the girls. 7. Be captured 
and tell of the long journey to Detroit, what you saw there, 
and how and why Boone made his escape. 8. Tell of the 
last attack on Boonesboro. 9. Why did Boone move to 
Missouri ? 

10. What famous men went to school at Fredericksburg? 
11. What famous men have lived in the Shenandoah? 12. 
What changed Sevier’s career? 13. What happened to Sevier 
at the siege of Fort Watauga. 14. Why did Sevier leave 
Watauga, and what sort of life did he lead on the Nolichucky ? 
13. Picture the Battle of Kings Mountain. 16. Why did 
the people of Tennessee love Sevier? 

77. Tell of Clark’s boyhood. 18. When was he a scout? a 
leader in Kentucky? 19. What made Clark learn to hate the 
British? 20. Tell the story of his secret. 21. Picture the 
voyage to the falls of the Ohio. 22. Tell the events from 
the falls of the Ohio until he reached Kaskaskia. 23. Picture 
the scene of the dance at Kaskaskia. 24. What news did 
Clark give Father Gibault? 23. Where were the British, and 
what did they do? 26. Picture Clark’s march to Vincennes. 
27. Tell the story of the attack on Vincennes. 28. Where was 
“Clank's Grant’’? 29. Why is Clark’s conquest of Kakaskia 
and Vincennes one of the greatest events in American history? 
30. Find on the map the places mentioned in the campaign. 

Suggested Readings. Daniel Boone: Wright, Childrens 
Stories of American Progress, 1-40; Glascock, Stories of 
Columbia, 138-147; Hart, Camps and Firesides of the Revolu¬ 
tion, 101-116; McMurry, Pioneers of the Mississippi Valley, 
68-83. 

John Sevier: Blaisdell and Ball, Hero Stories from American 
History, 90-104; McMurry, Pioneers of the Mississippi Valley, 
104-123; Phelan, History of Tennessee, 57-66, 241-257. 

George Rogers Clark: McMurry, Pioneers of the Missis¬ 
sippi Valley, 124-149; Blaisdell and Ball, Hero Stories from 
American History, 1—17; Eggleston, Tecumseh and the Shawnee 
Prophet, 41-51; Roosevelt, The Winning of the West, II, 31-85. 


182 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

DEVELOPMENT OF THE NEW REPUBLIC 

ELI WHITNEY, WHO INVENTED THE COTTON GIN AND 
CHANGED THE HISTORY OF THE SOUTH 

115. What a boy’s love of tools led to. Before the 

Revolution there lived in a Massachusetts village a boy 
named Eli Whitney. His father had a farm, on which 
there was also a tool shop. This was the most wonderful 
place in the world to young Eli. Whenever he had a 
moment to spare, he was sure to be working away in 
his father’s .shop. At the age of twelve he made a good 
fiddle. After that people with broken fiddles came to 
him to have them mended. One day, while his father 
was in church, Eli got Mr. Whitney’s fine watch and 
took it all apart. Other boys often try the same thing. 
But Eli succeeded in putting it together again, and it 
ran as smoothly as before. During the war he earned 
money making nails. At college he helped pay his 
expenses by mending things and doing a carpenter’s 
work. 

If Eli Whitney were living today he would surely have 
been an engineer. But there were no engineers in those 
days, and so he decided to teach school. He found a 
position in far-off Georgia, and took passage on a ship 
to Savannah. On board ship he met the widow of the 
old war hero, General Nathanael Greene, to whom the 
people of Virginia had given a fine home as a reward 
for his services in the Revolution. Mrs. Greene liked 
the young man for his friendly nature and his intelligence. 
He had a pleasant voyage, but sad was his disappoint¬ 
ment, when he arrived at Savannah! The people who 
had asked him to come had changed their minds, and 
he was left without a school. 






Eli Whitney 


183 



ELI WHITNEY WORKING ON HIS COTTON GIN 


He was in a strange place, without money, and did 
not know what to do. Just then came an invitation from 

Mulberry Grove, __ 

where Mrs. Greene 
lived. He went 
gladly and was 
treated very 
kindly. He made 
many new friends. 

The men liked the 
interest he took 
in their plantations 
and their work. 

The children were his friends because he made for them 
wonderful toys of all sorts. 

One day some visitors were talking with Mrs. Greene 
about cotton. This plant was little grown at that time. 
People knew that it had a fine, soft fiber which could be 
made into excellent cloth. But the fiber had to be sepa¬ 
rated from the seed before it could be spun. In those 
days the seeds were taken out by hand, and even a skill¬ 
ful slave could clean only about a pound a day. Think of 
working a whole day for a handful of cotton! Because of 
this difficulty, cotton was expensive, more so than wool or 
linen. Only well-to-do people could wear cotton clothes. 

116. The cotton gin invented. One of the visitors 
said that a machine ought to be invented which would 
clean the cotton. Mrs. Greene thought of Whitney. 
She believed he could make such a machine, and asked 
him to try. He thought about it, and believed he could 
make iron fingers do the work that the fingers of the 
slaves had done. 


7 
















184 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

s 

Whitney got a basketful of cotton and fixed up a 
shop. Then he went to work patiently. He had a 
good deal of trouble, but he kept on. One day he called 
in Mrs. Greene and her overseer and proudly showed 
them his little machine, made of rollers and wires and 
brushes. Into this he poured the cotton just as it came 
from the field. When he turned a crank the soft, clean 
'cotton came tumbling out of one side and the seeds out 
of another. This was the cotton gin, which in a few years 
was to change the entire life of the South. 

THOMAS JEFFERSON WHO WROTE THE DECLARATION OF 
INDEPENDENCE, FOUNDED THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY, 
AND PURCHASED THE LOUISIANA TERRITORY 

117. The early years of Jefferson. The author of the 

Declaration of Independence was born in 1743, near 
Charlottesville, Virginia. Like many other Virginia boys, 
Thomas Jefferson lived on a large plantation, and spent 
much time in hunting, fishing, and horseback riding. 
While yet a boy, and throughout his long life, Jefferson 
loved books, and studied hard every subject that came 
to his attention. 

At seventeen he rode away to Williamsburg to attend 
the College of William and Mary, the second oldest 
college in America. 

Although Williamsburg was the capital of the largest 
and oldest of all the colonies, it had scarcely more than 
two hundred houses, and not more than a thousand 
people, and but one main street. The capitol stood at 
one end of the street and the college at the other. It 
was the first town Jefferson had ever seen and was 
wonderful in his eyes. 


I 


Thomas Jefferson 


185 

At the opening of the House of Burgesses, Jefferson 
saw the best people in the Old Colony come pouring in. 
The planters came in fine coaches drawn by beautiful 
horses. Their wives and daughters came to attend the 
governor’s reception, and to enjoy meeting old friends. 

Jefferson became acquainted with the great men of his 
colony, and with many young men who were to be the 
future leaders in America. Here he met Patrick Henry, 
a student in a law office. Jefferson liked the fun-making 
Henry, and the two young men enjoyed many happy 
hours together, playing their violins. 

After his graduation Jefferson remained in his old 
college town to study law in the office of one of Virginia’s 
ablest lawyers. Henry often stayed in Jefferson’s rooms 
when he came to 
attend the meetin gs 
of the Burgesses. 

When Henry made 
his stirring speech 
against the Stamp 
Act, Jefferson 
stood in the door¬ 
way of the House 
and listened spell¬ 
bound to his friend ’ s 
fiery eloquence. 

118. Enters pub¬ 
lic life. In a few 
years Jefferson him- where jefferson went to school before he went 

TO WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE 

self was honored 

with a seat in the House of Burgesses. He immediately 
took a leading part in opposing the tax on tea. The 


















































186 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 




THE OLD CAPITOL, WILLIAMSBURG 

Here Jefferson heard Patrick Henry make his famous 
Ccesar-Charles the First speech 


king’s governor became angry and sent the members of 
the House of Burgesses home. But before they went, the 

bolder ones met 
and signed a paper 
which pledged 
the people of Vir¬ 
ginia to buy no 
more goods from 
England. 

The next im¬ 
portant events in 
Jefferson’s life 
were his falling 
in love, and his marriage to a young widow. She 
was beautiful in looks, winning in her manner, and rich 
in lands and slaves. Jefferson took his young wife to a 
handsome mansion which he had built on his great 
plantation. He called the home Monticello. Here 
these two Virginians, like Washington and his wife at 
Mount Vernon, spent many happy days. 

But stirring events took Jefferson away from the 
quiet life at Mon¬ 
ticello. After his 
marriage, he 
went to the meet¬ 
ing of the Bur¬ 
gesses, and there 
with other lead¬ 
ers formed a Com¬ 
mittee of Corres¬ 
pondence. This committee wrote to the other colonies to 
get news of what the leaders were doing, and to tell them 


THE RALEIGH TAVERN, WILLIAMSBURG 
When barred from the House of Burgesses the Committee of 
Correspondence met in this tavern 












Thomas Jefferson 


187 



what the men inVirginia were planning to do. Each of the 
other colonies appointed committees of correspondence. 
They kept the news going back and forth as fast as rapid 
horsemen could carry it. These committees had a strong 
influence in uniting the colonies against England. 

119. Writes the Declaration of Independence. In 
1775 the Burgesses chose Thomas Jefferson, Richard 
Henry Lee, and Ben¬ 
jamin Harrison as 
delegates to the Con¬ 
tinental Congress at 
Philadelphia. In 
this Congress 
Richard Henry Lee 
made a motion de- 
claring that the 
Thirteen Colonies 
were free and inde¬ 
pendent of Great 
Britain. 

The Congress 
appointed Thomas 
Jefferson of Virginia, 


JEFFERSON AND HIS WIFE AT MONTICELLO 


John Adams of 
Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, 
Roger Sherman of Connecticut, and Robert R. Livingston 
of New York to draw up a Declaration of Independence. 

When these great men met to talk over the Declaration, 
the others urged Jefferson to do the writing, for he was 
able to put his thoughts on paper in plain, strong words. 
How important that the Declaration should be well 
written, and should contain powerful reasons for breaking 






188 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

away from England and setting up an independent 
government! A large number of people in America were 
opposed to separating from England. Besides, good 
reasons must be given to those brave Englishmen who, 
like Pitt and Burke, had been our defenders in Parliament. 

When Jefferson showed what he had written, the others 
liked it so well that only a few words were changed. 
Even after several days’ debate in Congress, only a few 
more words were changed. Then it was signed by the 
members of the Congress and sent out for all the world 
to see why America was driven to fight for independence 
(1776). 

John Hancock, the president of the Congress, was the 



SIGNING THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 

From the first historical painting of John Trumbull, now in the 
rotunda of the Capitol at Washington 


first to sign the Declaration. He did so in large letters, 
saying that George III might read his name without 






















































Thomas Jefferson 


189 

spectacles. He also said: “We must all hang together 
in this matter.” “Yes,” replied Franklin, “we must all 
hang together, or 
we shall hang 
separately.” 

120. Honored at 
home and abroad. 

Jefferson returned 
to Virginia, and 
later became gov¬ 
ernor. After the 
war was over and 
England had 
taken her armies 

1 JEFFERSON WELCOMED BACK TO MONTICELLO 

home, Congress by his negroes 

sent Thomas Jefferson as minister to France (1785). 
The French people liked Jefferson, because, like Franklin, 
he was democratic, and treated all men alike. The 
French people were just beginning to overthrow the 
power of their king, and plan a republic. Jefferson told 
them how happy the Americans were since they had 
broken away from George III. 

After five years Jefferson returned home. When his 
negro slaves heard that he was coming back to Monticello 
they went several miles to greet him. When the carriage 
reached home they carried him on their shoulders into 
the house. The slaves were happy, for Jefferson, like 
Washington, was a kind master, and hoped for the day to 
come when slavery would no longer exist. 

Washington had just been elected the first president 
of the United States (1789), and was looking for an 
adviser on questions relating to foreign nations. FIc 













190 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

chose Jefferson and gave him the office of Secretary 
of State. 

121. The first democratic president. Congress de¬ 
bated ways of paying the Revolutionary War debt, and 
also whether America should take sides with France in 
the great war between that country and England. The 
people disputed over these and many other questions, 
until they formed two parties. One, the Democratic- 
Republican, was led by Thomas Jefferson, and the 
other, the Federalist party, was led by Alexander 
Hamilton. 

The Democratic-Republican party soon became known 
simply as the Democrats. In 1800 they elected their 
great leader, Jefferson, president. He was very popular 
because he was a friend of the poor as well as of the 
rich people. He declared that the new national govern¬ 
ment should in every way be plain and simple, instead 
of showy, like the governments of Europe. 

Presidents Washington and Adams had held fine 
receptions, where people wore wigs, silver shoe buckles, 
and fine lace. When Jefferson became president he did 
away with all this show and style. He also pleased the 
people by reducing the expenses of the government. 
He spent just as little money as possible in running it. 

122. Jefferson buys the region called Louisiana. One of 
Jefferson’s most important acts while president was the 
purchase of Louisiana. In 1800 Napoleon, the great 
French general, forced Spain to give France all of the 
region then known as Louisiana. This extended from- 
the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains, and from 
Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. Spain, a weak country, 
had already refused to permit American boats to use the 


Thomas Jefferson 


igi 


mouth of the Mississippi. What if Napoleon should send 
his victorious army and close the Mississippi entirely? 
Jefferson saw the danger 
at once, and sent James 
Monroe to Paris to help our 
minister, Robert R. Living¬ 
ston, buy New Orleans and 
a strip of land on the east 
side of the Mississippi River 
near its mouth. 

Napoleon was about to 
enter on a terrible war with 
England, and needed money 
badly. He was only too 
glad to sell all of Louisiana 
for fifteen million dollars 
(1803). This was more 
than Livingston was told to 
buy, but he and Monroe 
accepted it. 

If you will count the 
number of great states which have been carved out of the 
“Louisiana Purchase,” and look at the great cities and 
the many towns which have grown up within “old 
Louisiana,” you will understand why great honor is 
given to the men who purchased this vast region. 

The next year, Jefferson sent an expedition under the 
command of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to 
explore this vast country. With men, Indians, and 
boats they made their way slowly up the Missouri, across 
the mountains, and down the Columbia to the Pacific 
coast. 



THOMAS JEFFERSON 

From a painting by Rembrandt Peale, now 
in the possession of the New York Histori¬ 
cal Society, New York City 


































192 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

The wonderful stories told by Lewis and Clark gave 
Americans their first real knowledge of parts of the 
Louisiana Purchase and of the Oregon region. In 1904, 
America, with the help of all the great nations of the 
world, celebrated at St. Louis the buying of this region by 
holding the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. 

123. Last days of Jefferson. In 1804, Jefferson was 
elected President again by a greater majority than before. 
After serving a second term, he, like Washington, refused 
to be President for a third time. He retired to Monti- 
cello, where he spent his last days pleasantly and where 
hundreds of friends from all parts of America and Europe 
came to consult him. The people called him the “Sage 
of Monticello.” 

Jefferson lived to see the first two states, Louisiana 



and Missouri, carved out of the Louisiana Purchase. 
He died at Monticello, July 4, 1826. On the same day, 


















Lewis and Clark 


193 


f 

at Quincy, Massachusetts, died his long-time friend, 
John Adams. These two patriots, one the writer, the 
other the defender, of the Declaration of Independence, 
died just half a century after it was signed. 

124. Jefferson believed in education. If the people are 
to rule wisely, they must be educated. Jefferson believed 
this with all his heart. For his own state, Virginia, he 
planned a complete school system. He personally watched 
over the building of its great university. He was so 
proud of his work in founding it that he asked his friends 
to record on his tombstone that he was the “Father of 
the University of Virginia. ” 

Jefferson’s ideas about education have had a great 
influence both in the South and in the North. 

LEWIS AND CLARK, AMERICAN EXPLORERS IN THE 

OREGON COUNTRY 

125. Discovery of the Columbia River. The purchase 
of the Louisiana territory by Jefferson opened up a 
great new region for settlers. It was necessary to know 
something about this new territory. It stretched from the 
Mississippi River to the Rockies. The Pacific shore had 
already been visited by explorers. Boston merchants 
had sent Captain Robert Gray to the Pacific coast to buy 
furs from the Indians. He sailed around South America 
and up along the coast to Vancouver Island, where he 
obtained a rich cargo of furs. He then made his way 
across the Pacific to China, and came back to Boston by 
way of the Cape of Good Hope—the first American to 
carry the Stars and Stripes around the world. 

On a second voyage to the same region, in the good 
ship “Columbia,” Gray discovered the mouth of a great 


194 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


river (1792). Up this river he went for nearly thirty 
miles. Captain Gray named the river the Columbia after 
his vessel. The Indians had called it the Oregon. 

126. The Lewis and Clark Expedition. The next 
important step in finding a route to the Oregon country 
was the great expedition undertaken while Thomas 
Jefferson was still president. 

Lewis and Clark were two young men chosen by 
Jefferson to explore the region known as the Louisiana 
Purchase. They w T ere to make their way across the 
Rocky Mountains to the Oregon country and to the 
Pacific. They chose forty-two men to go with them— 
some as soldiers, others as servants, and still others as 
hunters. From the little French village of St. Louis they 
began their journey in boats in the spring of 1804. 

Up the Missouri River they slowly made their way 
against the current of the muddy, rushing stream. At 
one time it was so swift that they could not force boats 
against it, and at another time the brushwood that came 
down the river broke their oars. 

Near where the city of Council Bluffs now stands, 
Lewis and Clark held a great meeting with the Indians. 
They told the Indians that the people of the United States 
and not the people of France were now the owners of 
this great land. Together they smoked the “pipe of 
peace. ” 

The company spent the winter on an island sixteen 
hundred miles from St. Louis. The men built rude 
homes and fortified them. The Indians were friendly, 
and the explorers spent many evenings around the wig¬ 
wam fires listening to stories of the country the Indians 
had to tell them. 


Lewis and Clark 


{ 


195 


In the spring they bade the Indians good-by, passed the 
mouth of the Yellowstone, and traveled on until the Rocky 
Mountains, with their long 
rows of snow-covered peaks, 
came into view. 

On the thirteenth day of 
June they saw the wonderful 
“Falls of the Missouri.” The 
water tore through a vast gorge 
a dozen miles or more in length. 

127. The way over the 
mountains. On they went 
- until their boats could go no 
farther. They had reached 
rough and rugged hills and 
mountains. They climbed the 
heights as best they could. 

From now on the suffering of the party was great indeed. 

One day Captain Lewis went ahead with three men 
to find Indian guides for the party. They climbed 
higher and higher until finally they came to a place where 
the Missouri River takes its rise. They went on and at 
last came to the western slope of the mountains, down 
which flowed a stream toward the Pacific. 

Finally Captain Lewis came upon a company of Indian 
women who could not get away. They all bowed their 
heads as if expecting to be killed. They led the white 
men to a band of Indians who received them with all 
the signs of kindness they could show. 

Now they all turned back to find Clark and his party. 
When they reached Clark the Indians smoked the “pipe 
of peace” and Lewis and Clark told the Indians why the 



CAPTAIN MERIWETHER LEWIS 

From the original painting by Charles 
Wilson Peale in Independence Hall, 
Philadelphia 








ig6 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

United States had sent them out. They were the first 
white men these Indians had ever seen. 

The mountains were now 
rough and had neither trees 
nor grass. The explorers took 
an old Indian guide and 
crossed the Bitter Root 
Mountains into a valley of 
the same name. They 
followed an Indian trail over 
the mountains to the Clear¬ 
water River. They suffered 
a great deal from want of 
food and from the cold. When 
they reached a tribe of the 
Nez Perce (Pierced Nose) 
Indians they ate so much 
they all became ill. 

128. On waters flowing into the Pacific. In five log 
boats they had hollowed out of tree trunks, they glided 
down the Clearwater to the Snake. They camped near 
the spot where now stands the town of Lewiston, Idaho. 
Then they embarked on the Snake River and floated 
down to where it joins the mighty Columbia. 

They were again among the Indians who had plenty 
of dried fish. Here is the home of the salmon, a fish 
found in astonishing numbers. The men had never seen 
so many fish before. 

The number of Indians increased as they went toward 
the Pacific. Finally the party of explorers passed through 
the Cascade Mountains and were once more on the Colum¬ 
bia. They soon beheld the blue waters of the Pacific. 



CAPTAIN WILLIAM CLARK 

From the original painting by Charles 
Wilson Peale in Independence 
Hall, Philadelphia 












Lewis and Clark 


197 


During their five months’ stay on the Pacific, Captain 
Clark made a map of the region through which they had 
gone. They repaired their guns and made clothes of the 
skins of elk and other game. 

The Indians told them of a shorter route to the Falls 
of the Missouri, and Captain Lewis and nine men went 
by this route while Captain Clark with others retraced 
the old route. They saw nothing of each other for two 
months, when they all met again in August on the banks 
of the Missouri. 

They reached St. Louis, September 23, 1806. The 
poeple of the United States were glad to hear of the 
safe return of the exploring party, for they had long 
thought that the men were all dead. 

Both President Jefferson and Con¬ 
gress put great value upon the useful 
information that the expedition 
gathered. Congress rewarded every 
one connected with the expedition. 

Each man was granted double pay 
for the time he spent and three 
hundred acres of land. To Captain 
Lewis was given fifteen hundred 
acres and to Captain Clark a thou¬ 
sand acres. Lewis was appointed 
first governor of Louisiana Territory 
and Clark was made governor of 
Missouri Territory. 

129. Fur traders and missionaries 
Ted the way. Soon after this 
expedition the fur traders pushed their way across the 
Rocky Mountains from St. Louis to the Pacific. They 



STATUE OF SACAJAWEA 

This Indian woman, as 
interpreter and guide, 
was a great aid to the 
exploring party 



198 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

found the “gateway of the Rockies,” called the South 
Pass, which opened the way to the Oregon country (1824). 

After the fur traders came the missionary, Nathaniel 
Wyeth, a New Englander who led a party to the Columbia 
and established a post (1832). Other missionaries fol¬ 
lowed him and began to work among the Indians of the 
Oregon country. 

130. The boundary established. During this time fur 
traders from Canada and Great Britain were occupying 
the Oregon country as far as the Columbia River. The 
United States and Great Britain made a treaty by which 
they agreed to occupy the country together. This 
treaty lasted until settlers from the United States made it 



LEWIS AND CLARK ON THEIR W T AY DOWN SNAKE RIVER 


necessary to have a new treaty. In 1846 a new treaty 
was made and the present northern boundary was 
established. 















A ndrew Jackson 


199 



JACKSON REFUSES TO SHINE THE 
OFFICER’S BOOTS 


ANDREW JACKSON, THE VICTOR OF NEW ORLEANS 

131. How a poor boy began to rise. Andrew Jackson 
was born of Scotch-Irish parents who had come from 
Ireland to South Carolina. 

His father died and his 
mother moved to North 
Carolina to be among her 
own people. Near the line 
between South Carolina and 
North Carolina, Andrew 
was born. 

Schools were few and poor. 

In fact, Andrew was too poor 
himself to do anything but 
work. He learned far more 
from the pine woods in 
which he played than from books. At nine he was a tall, 
slender, freckle-faced lad, fond of sports, and full of fun 
and mischief. But woe to the boy that made “Andy’ 
angry! 

He was a boy during the Revolutionary War. When 
thirteen, he learned what war means, for Colonel Tarleton 
came along and killed more than a hundred and wounded 
one hundred and fifty of Jackson’s neighbors and friends. 
Among the killed was one of the boy’s own brothers. 
Andrew never forgave the British. 

At fourteen he was taken prisoner by the British. 
“Boy,” said an officer, “clean these boots!” “I will 
not,” replied Jackson. “I am a prisoner of war, and 
claim to be treated as such.” The officer drew his sword 
and struck Jackson a blow upon the head, and another 
upon the hand. These blows left scars which Jackson 












200 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 



carried to his grave. He was taken a prisoner to Cam¬ 
den, where smallpox killed his remaining brother and 

left Andrew thin 
and sickly look¬ 
ing. His mother 
had come to Cam¬ 
den to nurse her 
sons. A little 
later she lost her 
life in caring for 
American pris¬ 
oners on British 
ships in Charles- 

THE HERMITAGE NEAR NASHVILLE ton TTarhnr Pfl 

This historic house, the home of Andrew Jackson, is now LUII Xid, L>U , b 

owned by the state of Tennessee Jackson WaS nOW 


an orphan of the Revolution. 

After the Revolutionary times had gone by, Jackson 
studied law and at the age of twenty was admitted to 
practice in the courts. 

132. He moves to Tennessee. But stories of the 
beautiful country coming over the mountains from 
Tennessee stirred his blood. He longed to go, and in 
company with nearly a hundred men, women, and children 
Jackson set out for the goodly land. 

They crossed the mountains into east Tennessee, 
where was the town of Jonesboro, not far from the home 
of Governor Sevier. 

Jackson and the others rested before taking up their 
march to Nashville. From Jonesboro to Nashville, they 
had to look out for Indians. One night, when men, 
women, and children were resting in their rude tents, 
Jackson sat at the foot of a tree smoking his corncob 
















Andrew Jackson 


201 


pipe. He heard “owls” hooting. These were Indian 
signals. “A little too natural,” thought Jackson. He 
aroused the people, and silently they marched away. 
Another party, coming an hour or two later, stopped in 
the same place, and were massacred by Indians. 

Arriving in Nashville, Jackson began the practice of 
law. To reach the court, he sometimes had to ride miles 
and miles, day after day, through thick forests, where 
the Indians might lie in wait. 

When Tennessee was made a territory, Jackson became 
district attorney. He had many “ups and downs” 
with the bad men of the frontier. Jackson himself had 
a bad temper, and woe to the man who made him angry. 
He either got a sound thrashing or had to fight a duel. 

When Tennessee became a state, Jackson was elected 
to Congress. A year or so after¬ 
ward (1797), he was appointed 
a senator to fill a vacancy. But 
such a position did not give him 
excitement enough. He 
resigned the next year and 
returned to Nashville. He was 
a frontier judge for a time, then 

he became a man of business. 

133. How Jackson won a 

great victory. When the War 
of 1812 broke out there came 
a call to arms. The “British 
will capture New Orleans!” 

Twenty-five hundred front¬ 
iersmen rallied to Jackson’s call. He was just the man to 
lead them. They decided to go to New Orleans by water. 



ANDREW JACKSON 

From, a painting by Thomas Sully 
which hangs in the rooms of the 
Historical Society of Pennsyl¬ 
vania at Philadelphia 





202 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

Down the Cumberland to the Ohio they went. Down 
the Ohio to the Mississippi, and down the Mississippi to 

Natchez. Here they 
stopped, only to learn 
that there were no 
British near. 

The twenty-five hun¬ 
dred men marched the 
long, dreary way home. 
Jackson was the tough¬ 
est one among them. He 
could march farther and 
last longer without food 
than any of them. The 
soldiers nicknamed him 
“Old Hickory.” 

Once more he was at 
home, where he now was 
a great man among his 
friends. About this time Jackson had a fierce fight 
with Thomas H. Benton and received a pistol shot 
in the shoulder. Before he got well the people who 
suffered from the Fort Mims massacre were calling loudly 
for help. Tecumseh had stirred up the Creeks to murder 
five hundred men, women, and children at this fort in 
Alabama. 

Twenty-five hundred men answered Jackson’s call. 
They marched south through a barren country. Food 
was scarce. His army, almost starved, threatened to go 
home. A half-starved soldier saw Jackson sitting under 
a tree and asked him for something to eat. Looking up 
Jackson said: “It has always been a rule with me never 



JACKSON SHARES HIS ACORNS WITH THE 
HUNGRY SOLDIER 






Andrew Jackson 


203 




to turn away a hungry man. I will cheerfully divide 
with you.” Then he drew from his pocket a few acorns, 
saying: “This is 
the best and only 
fare I have.” 

But Jackson 
soon received 
reenforcements, 
and then, in spite 
of all these draw¬ 
backs, he broke 
the power of the A BREASTWORK OF COTTON BALES 

Creeks in the great battle of Horseshoe Bend on 
Tallapoosa River in Alabama. After that the Indians 
were only too glad to sue for peace. 

Jackson was hardly home again when President 
Madison made him a major general, and sent him with 
an army to guard New Orleans from the British. 

After attacking and capturing Pensacola, a Spanish 
fort which the English occupied, he hurried his army on 

to New Orleans. 
Jackson at once 
declared martial law 
and threw himself 
with all the energy 
he had into get¬ 
ting New Orleans 
ready, for the British 
troops were already 

A LITTLE BREASTWORK OF SUGAR BARRELS Jending 

The British general had twelve thousand veterans fresh 
from victories in Europe. Jackson had only half as many 




















204 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


men. But nearly every man was a sharpshooter. They 
were riflemen from the wilds of Kentucky, of Tennessee, 
and of Mississippi, and every man was burning with a 
desire to fight. 

Jackson had not long to wait. On came the British 
in solid column, with flags flying and drums beating. 
The fog was breaking away. Behind the breastworks 
stood the Americans with cannon loaded to the muzzle 
and with deadly rifles primed for the fight. 

The cannon were the first to fire, but the redcoats 
closed up their shattered ranks, and moved on. Those 
lines of red! How splendid and terrible they looked! 
The Americans gave three cheers. ‘ ‘ Fire! ’ ’ rang out along 
the line. The breastworks were instantly a sheet of fire. 



THE battle OF NEW ORLEANS 

Won by Jackson after peace was made, this battle helped to make him 
president and to change history 


Along the whole line it blazed and rolled. No human 
being could face it. The British soldiers broke and fled. 















Andrew Jackson 


205 


Once more they rallied, led by General Pakenham, a 
relative of the great Duke of Wellington. But who 
could withstand that fire? 

Pakenham was slain, and 
again his troops fled. The 
battle was over. The 
British had lost two thou¬ 
sand six hundred men and 
the Americans only 
twenty-one! This victory 
was won after peace had 
been made between Eng¬ 
land and America. A ship 
was then hurrying to 
America with the glad 
news. 

Everywhere the people 
rejoiced over the victory of New Orleans. Jackson was 
a hero, and, wherever he went, crowds followed him, 
and cried out, “Long live the victor of New Orleans!” 

For several years, Jackson remained at the head of 
the army in the South. The Seminole War was fought, 
and this tribe was compelled to make peace. 

134. The people’s president. The people of the 
United States elected Jackson president in 1828, and 
reelected him in 1832 by a greater majority than before, 
showing that he was very popular. 

President Jackson had a quarrel with the men who were 
managing the United States Bank. This bank kept the 
money for the government. He ordered that the money 
of the government be taken out of this bank and put 
in different state banks which were called “pet” banks. 

























206 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 



THE TOMB OF ANDREW JACKSON 


In the Senate of the United States at this time were three 
men of giant-like ability—Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, 

and John C. Calhoun. They 
joined together to oppose 
President Jackson in his fight 
against the United States 
Bank. 

The Senate finally passed a 
resolution blaming President 
Jackson for taking the money 
away from the United States 
Bank. President Jackson was 
furious. He wrote a protest 
and sent it to the Senate. 
The people in the states took 
sides and the excitement 
spread to all parts of the country. 

In the Senate was another great man, Thomas H. 
Benton of Missouri. Although Jackson and Benton 
had once fought a terrible duel in Nashville, they now 
were good friends. Benton attacked Clay, Webster, and 
Calhoun in powerful speeches and defended President 
Jackson in every way he could. At last, after several 
years, he succeeded in getting the Senate to expunge, or 
take away, from their records the resolution blaming 
President Jackson. There was great rejoicing among 
Jackson’s friends, and Senator Benton was the hero of 
the day. 

For a long time, South Carolina and other southern 
states had been complaining about the high tariff which 
Congress had passed. In 1832 South Carolina declared 
in a state convention that her people should no longer 




























Francis Scott Key 


207 


pay the tariff. She resolved to fight rather than obey the 
law and pay it. This was called nullification. 

President Jackson was very angry when he heard of 
this act of South Carolina. He told General Scott to 
take soldiers and war vessels to Charleston, and enforce 
the law at all hazards. The President published a letter 
to the people of South Carolina, warning them not to 
nullify a law of Congress. 

Henry Clay, the great peacemaker, now came forward. 
He proposed that the tariff be changed little by little. 
South Carolina was willing, and the danger of war 
passed away. 

In 1837 Jackson’s second term as president expired and 
he retired from public life after having seen his good 
friend, Martin Van Buren of New York, made president. 

Jackson returned to Tennessee, greatly beloved by the 

people. There, in his home, called the “Hermitage, ’’ he 

spent the rest of his life. He died in 1845, at the age 

of seventy-eight. 

% 

FRANCIS SCOTT KEY, AUTHOR OF 

“the star-spangled banner” 

135. A man of great ability. Francis Scott Key came 
of a fine old Maryland family. As a boy he roamed 
over his father’s big plantation and visited friends at 
Annapolis, the state capital. He had a college educa¬ 
tion and studied law. He was an eloquent lawyer, and 
took part in a number of famous cases. 

All his. life Francis Scott Key was an earnest Christian. 
He wrote a beautiful hymn, as well as some lighter verses. 
He was a good man to smooth out trouble. President 
Andrew Jackson sent him to Alabama to straighten out 


208 Elementary History: Stories o Heroism 

some conflicts between the white men and the Indians. 
He did it so well that he satisfied all parties. But above 
all else Key is known as the author of our national anthem, 
“The Star-Spangled Banner.” We all ought to know 
how he came to write it. 

136. How Key became a prisoner on his own ship. 

During the War of 1812 British troops captured Wash¬ 
ington City. They burned the capitol building. Then 
they withdrew quickly, went on board their ships, and 
sailed away. They were planning to attack Baltimore 
in the same way. While they were still some distance 
from it they met a small vessel flying a white flag.. This 
meant that it had on board a messenger. He proved to 
be Francis Scott Key. He had been sent by our govern¬ 
ment to ask the British to release a worthy and kindly 
doctor whom some of their soldiers had taken prisoner. 

The British admiral at first 
protested angrily. Key pled 
the case skillfully. Finally the 
admiral agreed to let the doe-- 
tor go but explained that he 
was planning another attack 
and would have to keep Key 
and his party on their boat 
until he finished it, lest some 
one should find out his plans. 

137. The attack on Fort 
McHenry. For three days 
Key’s little vessel, the “Min- 
den, ” lay with the British 
ships while troops were landed and the fleet made ready 
to attack the forts. On its deck Key paced back and 



FRANCIS SCOTT KEY 


Francis Scott Key 


209 


forth restlessly. He knew the British plan was to take 
Baltimore. If they did, what would happen to his friends 
there? Could the militia hold the town? The British 
general said he “did not care if it rained militia”; he 
would take Baltimore and make his winter quarters 
there. 

At length on the morning of September 13, 1814, the 
British fleet began its attack on Fort McHenry. All 
the morning their guns shelled it steadily, their great 
bombs falling on the fort with terrible effect. In the 
evening they ventured to sail nearer and renew the 
attack. Now the guns in the good old fort replied 
gallantly. A shot from a British gun pierced the flag 
on the fort. But as night came on, Key could see it 
still proudly float “in the twilight’s last gleaming.” 

In the night the British tried to run boats past the 
fort. They were discovered and a fierce fire was opened 
on them. The ships of the British fleet replied with an 
equally fierce fire. 

138. Key writes “The Star-Spangled Banner. ,, On the 

deck of the “Minden” Key anxiously watched. What 
did it all mean? Who was winning? In the red glare of 
the rockets he could dimly see the flag still flying over the 
fort. How he loved that star-spangled banner! Never 
before had it meant so much to him. Then the firing 
ceased. Had our fort surrendered? How long the night! 
At last came the early dawn. He strained his eyes. 
Ah, there it is! How gloriously it still floats on the early 
breeze, and “catches the gleam of the morning’s first 
beam.” “ Tis the Star-Spangled Banner! O long may 
it wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the 
brave!” 


2 io Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

With heart all aglow he wrote on the back of an old 
letter the immortal lines. The British admiral knew that 
his attack had failed, and he released Key and his little 
ship. But he did not know that he had helped to give 
us our national anthem. 

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL 

The Leading Facts, i. Eli Whitney was born in Massa¬ 
chusetts. 2. As a boy he was very much interested in tools, 
and worked in his father’s shop with all kinds of mechanical 
contrivances, 3. He earned his way through college doing 
carpenter work. 4. After graduation he set out to teach in 
Savannah. 5. He failed to get the situation, and went to 
visit a friend who had taken much interest in him. 6 . The 
South needed a machine to separate the cotton fiber from the 
seed. 7. Whitney set to work to make one, at the suggestion 
of his friend, Mrs. Greene. 8 . The cotton gin revolutionized 
the South, g. It made cotton raising the chief industry, and 
brought thousands of slaves into the country. 

10. Thomas Jefferson, born in Virginia, loved books; while 
in college he met Patrick Henry. 11. Went to the Burgesses 
and planned the committees of correspondence. 12. Jefferson 
was sent to the Congress of 1776 and wrote the Declaration of 
Independence. 13. After the war Jefferson was sent as minister 
to France. 14. Washington chose him as Secretary of State, 
and he founded the Democratic-Republican party. 75. Jeffer¬ 
son was popular as president. 16. He cut down the expenses 
of the government and with the savings purchased Louisiana. 
77. He was the “Father of the Lhiiversity of Virginia.” 

18. The Columbia River was discovered by Gray. ig. The 
way to the Oregon country was made known by Lewis and 
Clark and by missionaries. 20. The Indians along the route 
received them with kindness. 21. They followed the Colum¬ 
bia until they reached the Pacific. Clark made a map of the 
region through which they had gone. 22. As a reward, Lewis 
was appointed governor of the Louisiana Territory and Clark 
of the Missouri Territory. 

23. Andrew Jackson was born of poor parents; learned from 
the woods more than from books. 24. Jackson was captured 


2 II 


Suggestions Intended to Help the Pupil 

by the British. 25. His mother died nursing American sol¬ 
diers. 26 . He studied law, went over the mountains to Nash¬ 
ville, and was elected to Congress. 27. He also served as 
United States senator. 28 . Jackson defeated the Indians, 
captured Pensacola, and won a brilliant victory at New Orleans. 
29 . Jackson was elected president and was opposed in his bank 
policy by Clay, Webster, and Calhoun, jo. Had difficul y 
with South Carolina over nullification. 37. Died at the 
“Hermitage” in 1845. 

32. Francis Scott Key, born in New England, was a gifted 
lawyer and a writer of verses. 33. He was imprisoned on his 
own boat while the British shelled Fort McHenry during the 
War of 1812. 34. He wrote “The Star-Spangled Banner” 

while watching their unsuccessful attack. 

Study Questions. 1. What did Whitney like to do as a boy ? 
2. How did he help himself through college? 3. Why did he 
go to Savannah? 4 . Whom did he meet on the way? 5. 
Describe how cotton was at that time separated from the 
seed. 6 . Describe the action of the machine invented by 
Whitney. 

7. Name some things boys did on a Virginia plantation in 
Jefferson’s time. 8 . Name some of Virginia’s great men whom 
Jefferson knew. 9 . Explain how the committee of correspond¬ 
ence worked. 10 . Who were the men appointed to make a 
Declaration of Independence? 11 . Why did Jefferson write 
the Declaration ? 12 . Why did the French people like Jefferson ? 

73. Picture Jefferson’s return home. 14 . How was Jefferson 
fitted to be Secretary of State? 15. What were‘the people 
then disputing about, and who were their leaders? 16 . Why 
did Jefferson want the government to be plain and simple? 
77. Who wanted it different ? 18 . Tell the story of the buying 

of Louisiana. 19 . Why did Americans think the buying a 
great event? 20. Why did Jefferson not become president a 
third time? 27 . What of the friendship of John Adams and 
Thomas Jefferson? 

22. Describe the trip of Lewis and Clark up the Missouri 
River. 23. How did the Indians on the way receive them? 
24 . How did they return home? 25. What offices were given 
Lewis and Clark? 

26 . Where was Andrew Jackson born ? 27. Name some 

other boys who learned more from the woods than from books. 


2 12 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


28 . Mention some early experiences Jackson had with the 
British soldiers. 29 . What other experiences did he have in the 
war? jo. What led him to go to Nashville? 31 . Explain 
how Jackson outwitted the Indians. 32 . What did he do as a 
young lawyer? 33 . Tell the story of Jackson’s first call to 
arms. 34 . Give a full account of Jackson’s second call to 
arms. 33 . Imagine yourself one of Jackson’s soldiers, and 
tell what you saw and heard at the battle of New Orleans. 
36 . Give an account of Jackson’s fight against the United 
States Bank. 33 . Who was Thomas H. Benton, and why 
did he defend President Jackson? 38 . What action did 
South Carolina take in 1832, and what did the President do? 
39 . Where did Jackson live after he had finished his last term 
as president? 

40 . What kind of man was Francis Scott Key? 41 . Tell 
the story of the writing of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” 
42 . Memorize all its stanzas, if you do not already know 
them. 

Suggested Readings. Eli Whitney: Brooks, The Story 
of Cotton , 90-99; Southworth, Builders of Our Country , II, 
108-116; Shillig, The Four Wonders, 1-32. 

Jefferson: Wright, Children's Stories of American Progress, 
55-85; Cooke, Stories of the Old Dominion, 180-192; Hart, How 
Our Grandfathers Lived, 317-320; Butterworth In the Days of 
Jefferson, 32-168, 175-206, 216-264. 

Jackson: Brooks, Century Book of Famous Americans, 162- 
172; Blaisdell and Ball, Hero Stories from American History, 
185-198; Hart, How Our Grandfathers Lived, 284-291; Barton, 
Four American Patriots, 133-192; Frost, Old Hickory. 

Francis Scott Key: Captain Nathan Appleton, The Star 
Spangled Banner; Henry Watterson, “Francis Scott Key,” in 
Modern Eloquence, 1143-1151. 


Robert Fulton 


213 


THE MEN WHO MADE THE NATION GREAT 
BY THEIR INVENTIONS AND 
DISCOVERIES 

ROBERT FULTON, THE INVENTOR OF THE STEAMBOAT 

139. The invention of the steamboat. Once there 
were no steam engines to drive boats. On sea and river 
they were driven by wind, and on canals they were 
pulled along by horses or mules walking on the towpath 
beside the canal. 

James Rumsey on the Potomac, John Fitch on the 
Delaware, and William Longstreet on the Savannah had 
each invented and tried some kind of steamboat, before 
Robert Fulton. 

Fulton was born of Irish 
parents, in Little Britain, 

Pennsylvania, in 1765. At the 
age of three he lost his 
father. Young Fulton had 
unusual talent for drawing and 
painting, and inventing. 

When he was twenty, he went 
to Philadelphia, then the largest 
city in the Union, and engaged 
in painting and drawing. His 
first savings were given to his 
widowed mother to make her 

Comfortable. Robert fulton 

After the painting by Benjamin West 

Fulton finally decided to be an 
artist, and went to England to make his home with Benja¬ 
min West, a great painter who once lived in Philadelphia. 



214 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

There Fulton became acquainted with the Duke of 
Bridgewater, who influenced him to become a civil 
engineer. Fulton now met James Watt, who was the 
inventor of the steam engine. At one time the young 
man aided Watt in building an engine. 

Fulton next went to France, where he became inter¬ 
ested in plans for inventing diving boats, torpedoes, and 
steamboats. Here he met Robert R. Livingston, then 
United States Minister to France. Livingston took a 
deep interest in Fulton’s experiments in driving boats 
by steam, and furnished him the means to continue 
them. 


Fulton made a “model” boat, wdiich he left in France. 
Shortly afterward, he built a boat twenty-six feet long 
and eight feet wide. In this vessel he put a steam 



SCENE ON A CANAL 


engine. The trials proved beyond a doubt that steam¬ 
boats could be made. 



























Robert Fulton 


215 


Livingston believed in Fulton and his steamboat. 
When he returned to New York, Livingston obtained 
from the legis¬ 
lature the right 
to navigate the 
waters of the 
state by steam 
for twenty 
years. The one 
condition was 
that the boat 
should go 
against the cur¬ 
rent of the Hudson at the rate of four miles an hour. 

Fulton got his engine from the inventors, Watt and 
Boulton, in England — the only place where suitable 
engines could be found. The engine came in 1806. A 
boat called the “Clermont” was built to carry it. She 
was one hundred and thirty feet long and eighteen feet 
wide. She had a mast with a sail. At both ends she was 
decked over, and in the middle the engine was placed. 
Two large side-wheels dipped two feet into the water. 

140. The “Clermont” moves. At one o’clock in the 
afternoon of August 7, 1807, a great crowd gathered to 
see the first voyage of the ‘ ‘ Clermont. ” Many people did 
not expect to see the vessel go. They believed Fulton 
and Livingston, had spent their money for nothing. 
Fulton gave his signal from the deck of the “Clermont. ” 
The people looked on in astonishment as the boat moved 
steadily up the Hudson. 

The “ Clermont ” kept on going until out of sight, and 
the crowds of wondering people went home hardly believ- 












Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


216 


ing what their eyes had seen. Up the river, against the 
current of the mighty Hudson, she made her way until 
Albany was reached. She had gone one hundred and 
fifty miles in thirty-two hours, and won a great victory 
for Fulton and Livingston. 

When winter came the 1 ‘ Clermont ’ ’ was taken out of the 
water and rebuilt. They covered her from stem to stern 
with a deck. Under the deck they built two cabins, 
with a double row of berths. They changed her name to 
the “North River.” In the spring she made trips 
regularly up and down the Hudson. 

141. Steamboats on all the rivers. In 1809, a steam¬ 
boat was built on Lake Champlain, another on the 
Raritan, and a third on the Delaware. From this time 
forward, steamboats began to appear on all the great 
rivers in the settled portions of the United States. 

In 1811, a steamboat was built on the Ohio River at 

Pittsburgh. It 
started on its trip 
down the beautiful 
Ohio. People 
gathered on the 
banks of the river 
to see it go by. 
The steamboat, 
at first, made a 
frightful noise. 
Hence w h e n it 
came to places 
where news 
traveled slowly, the people were sometimes frightened, 
and the negroes ran crying into the woods. 



WATCHING THE 


CLERMONT ON ITS FIRST VOYAGE 
UP THE HUDSON 













Robert Fulton 


217 


In 1814a steamboat carried supplies to General Jackson 
at New Orleans, and helped him to win the great battle 
fought there. 

Seven steamboats were running on the Ohio and the 
Mississippi at the close of the War of 1812. Before 
another year went by, a steamboat had made its way 
from New Orleans against the currents of the Mississippi 
and Ohio rivers to Louisville, laden with goods from 
Europe. 

The steamboat had now won a place on the American 
rivers. It aided in the rapid settlement of the country. 
It made travel quick and easy, and it carried the goods 
of settlers up and down the rivers. 

Robert Fulton died in 1815, deeply mourned by all 
his countrymen, and was buried in Trinity churchyard, 
New York City. 

142. The beginning of canals. Before the American 
Revolution, George Washington had thought that a canal 
should join the Chespeake Bay with the Ohio River. 
This was a bold idea for so early a time and so young a 
statesman. When the war was over, Virginia and North 
Carolina granted a company the right to build the Dismal 
Swamp Canal, said to be the first canal built in America. 
But South Carolina was up and doing and immediately 
began work on the Charleston and Santee Canal. 

After the War of 1812 the government refused to give 
the states money for canals. The states now had to build 
the canals at their own expense. 

143. The Erie Canal. Before Fulton invented the 
steamboat, supplies had been carried to the western 
settlers over the mountains from the East. Now, how¬ 
ever, steamboats puffed up the Mississippi from New 


2 18 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


Orleans loaded down with goods that had been brought 
all the way from Europe. The settlers could get as 
much as they wanted and at a much lower cost. For 
this reason the merchants of New York and the East 
saw that they would soon be losing all their trade with the 
settlers. They, too, saw that they must have some con¬ 
nection with the West by water, and so they planned the 
Erie Canal. Governor De Witt Clinton was its champion. 
It took seven years to dig it. When it was finished it was 
three hundred and sixty-three miles long, forty feet wide, 
and four feet deep. The depth was later increased to 
seven feet. It stretched straight across the state of New 
York from Lake Erie to the Hudson River. 

In the autumn of 1825, when the canal was finished, 
there was a great celebration. A “fleet” of canal boats 
carried Governor Clinton of New York and a number of 
other distinguished men across the state. 

The merchants of the East were no longer afraid of 
the Mississippi route. They had a route of their own. 
The canal became the great highway of commerce from 
the East to the West and from the West to the East. 
New York recovered her trade, and flourishing cities 
grew up along the canal. 

But there were cities in the East that could not use 
the canal. Farther south they could not dig a canal 
across the mountains. All their goods had to be carried 
over the Cumberland Gap on the backs of horses. But 
a new means of travel and transportation had been 
invented, which was far to surpass the steamboat, and 
which was to help every city no matter where located. 

144. Railroad building. The first railroad was a very 
rude affair. There were no “palace cars” nor steel rails, 


Robert Fulton 


219 


nor did the trains run at a speed of sixty miles an hour. 
Instead, cars that looked like huge wagons ran on wooden 
rails and were dragged along by horses. 

But George Stephenson in England had thought out a 
plan for a machine that would pull the cars along by 
steam. He called his engine “Puffing Billy,” He kept 
at work always improving it. In 1825, after eleven years 
of work, he made an engine that could pull both passen¬ 
gers and freight. 

In 1828 the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad was started. 
A great ceremony took place. It was a memorable 
occasion. Charles Carroll, the only living signer of the 
Declaration of Independence, drove the first spade into 
the ground where the first rail was to be laid. As he 
did so he said, “I consider this among the most important 
acts of my life, second only to that of signing the Declara¬ 
tion of Independence. ” About the same time a railroad 
was' begun in South Carolina. It was the Charleston & 
Hamburg road. By 1834 it had one hundred and thirty 
four miles of railroad in use. 

Inventors continued to make better the locomotives. 
In 1831 an American company built one which ran at the 
rate of fifteen miles an hour. At that time this was con¬ 
sidered a very rapid rate. 

Since then railroad building and transportation have 
improved wonderfully. By 1842 one could travel by 
rail from Boston to Buffalo. But it was not until ten 
years later that Chicago was connected by rail with the 
East. 

Gradually the railroads spread a network over the 
entire country. In 1857, St. Louis and Chicago were 
connected. A railroad to the Pacific coast was much 


220 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

needed, and Congress voted an appropriation of 
$50,000,000 for the work. By 1869, the great work was 
completed. Other lines to the coast were started, and 
today seven railroads cross the mountains, connecting the 
Pacific with the North, South, and Atlantic regions. 

SAMUEL F. B. MORSE, INVENTOR OF THE TELEGRAPH 

145. The coming of the telegraph. Samuel Morse 
was born in Massachusetts (1791). His father was a 
Presbyterian minister. Young Morse went to the com¬ 
mon schools and to Yale College. 

In college he used his spare time in painting and, after 
graduation, he went to England and studied under the 
best artists. He came home and for a time painted 
portraits for a living. 

After having spent some years abroad, in work and 
study, Morse was again returning home from France 

when the idea of sending news by 
electricity first came to him. 

“Why can’t it be?” said Morse 
to a friend, who answered, 
“There is great need of sending 
news by electricity.” He began, 
then and there, to plan a machine 
and to invent an alphabet. This 
was all done on shipboard. When 
he reached land he went to work 
with a will at his new-found 
problem. 

THE FIRST TELEGRAPH . 

instrument for a long time the work went 

on very slowly, for inventors must eat and sleep and 
pay their way in the world. While Morse was struggling 









































Samuel F. B. Morse 


221 


over his machine and trying to make himself master of 
the strange force called electricity, he was often hungry 
and at times even 
at the point of 
starvation. 

Now came a 
bright spot in his 
career. A young 
man named Alfred 
Vail, an excellent 
mechanic, saw 
Morse’s telegraph 
instruments, and 
immediately be¬ 
lieved they would 
be successful. 

Young Vail bor¬ 
rowed money and 

became Morse ’ s morse working on his machine 

assistant in the great work. For what he did he deserves 
credit next to Morse himself. 

A patent must now be obtained and the telegraph must 
be so improved that they could show it to a committee 
of Congress. It was arranged that Vail and a mechanic 
by the name of Baxter should do the work behind locked 
doors. For, if some one should happen to see the instru¬ 
ments and obtain a patent first, then Morse and Vail 
would be ruined. 

In the locked shop the two men worked steadily day 
after day. Vail made many improvements. Among 
these was the new “dot and dash” alphabet. At last, 
one day in January, 1838, everything was in complete 























































222 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


working order. Baxter, hatless and coatless, ran for Mr. 
Vail’s father to come at once and see the telegraph work. 

At one end of 
the wire stood 
young Vail, and 
at the other stood 
Morse. This wire 
was stretched 
around the room 
so that it was 
three miles in 

MORSE SHOWING HIS COMPLETED WORK | 0 n g t h . The 

elder Vail wrote: “A patient waiter is no loser.’’ He said 
to his son: “If you can send this message, and Mr. Morse 
can read it at the other end, I shall be convinced.’’ It 
was done, and there was great rejoicing. The invention 
was hurried to Washington and young Vail took out a 
patent in the 
name of Morse. 

Morse obtained 
permission to set 
up his telegraphic 
instruments in 
two rooms of the 
capitol. These 
rooms were filled 
with congressmen 
watching the 
strange business. 

MORSE LISTENING TO CONGRESS MAKING 

Members in one FUN OF HIS invention 

room would carry on witty conversations with persons in 

the other room. This was great fun for those looking on. 























































Samuel F. B. Morse 


223 


But it was slow work talking with members of Congress 
and winning their help. 

146. The government aids. 

Finally Morse asked for thirty 
thousand dollars to build a line 
from Washington to Baltimore. 

The bill met opposition, one 
member moving that a part of 
the money be used in building 
a railroad to the moon, others 
that it be used in trying first 
one thing and then another. 

Morse stood leaning against 
the railing which separated the 
members from the outsiders. 

SAMUEL F. B. MORSE 

He was greatly excited, and From a photograph taken by 

Abraham Bogardus, New 

turning to a friend said: “I Yorkcuy 

have spent seven years and all that I have in making 
this instrument perfect. If it succeeds, I am a made man. 
If it fails, I am ruined. I have a large family, and not 
money enough to pay my board bill when I leave the city.” 

It was ten o’clock, March 3, 1843, the last night of 
that Congress. Morse gave up and went to his hotel. 
In the morning a friend met and congratulated him on 
the action of Congress in granting thirty thousand dollars 
for his telegraph line—the last thing Congress did that 
night. Morse was surprised. The telegraph line to 
Baltimore was built and the first dispatch was ready to 
send. Morse called the young woman who had been 
the first to congratulate him, to send this first message: 
“What hath God wrought?” 

The success of Morse was slow at first, but he lived to 












224 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


see the day when his instrument was used in Europe. 
He visited Europe again, was given gold medals, and 

received other rewards and 
honors from many of the rulers 
of the different European 
countries. 

He died in 1872 at the 
good old age of eighty-one. 
Congress and state legislatures 
paid tribute to his memory. 

147. A wider use for 
electricity. Morse was hardly 
in his grave when a wonderful 
invention was made calling 
electricity into far wider use in carrying news. This 
new invention was the telephone, and two men, Bell and 
Gray, applied for patents on it at almost the same time. 

These instruments are wonderful conductors of sound, 
carrying, as they do, the actual words and tones of the 
voice. 

But Marconi has gone beyond them all in his invention. 
He sends the electric wave forth without the aid of a 
wire, thus giving rise to wireless telegraphy. 

CYRUS WEST FIELD, WHO LAID THE ATLANTIC CABLE 
BETWEEN AMERICA AND EUROPE 

148. The Atlantic Cable. Cyrus W. Field was born 
in Massachusetts in 1819. His grandfather was a Revo¬ 
lutionary soldier. Cyrus went to school in his native 
town of Stockbridge, and at fifteen was given a place in a 
New York store at fifty dollars a year. Before he was 
twenty-one, he went into business for himself. At the 






















Cyrus West Field 


225 


end of a dozen years, he was the head of a prosperous 
firm. In 1853, he retired from active business. 

Field became interested in a man who was engaged in 
connecting Newfoundland with the mainland by means 
of a telegraph line. “Why not make a telegraph line to 
span the Atlantic ? ’ ’ thought Field. He went to work, and 
put his schemes before Peter Cooper and other generous 
men. They believed in them. 

Field next went abroad and laid his plan before a num¬ 
ber of Englishmen. He pleaded so eloquently that they, 
too, were convinced. He returned to America to lay 
the matter before Congress and ask that body to vote him 
a sum of money. 

Congress was very slow about it, and the bill did not 
pass until the last days of the session, and President Pierce 
signed it the last day of his term. 

Field returned to England and watched over the 
making of his “cable.” In August, 1857, everything 
was ready. The cable lay coiled on shipboard, ready to 
be let out in the Atlantic. The great ship started, and 
everything went well till three 
hundred and thirty-five 
miles of the cable had been 
let out, when it broke in two. 

It was the same as losing 
half a million dollars. 

Field went back to Eng¬ 
land and began promptly to 
prepare for a second trial. 

He then came to America 
and made arrangements to use the “Niagara, a large 
vessel. The British ship “Agamemnon” was also taken 



PRESIDENT PIERCE SIGNING THE 
FIELD BILL 






226 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


to help in this second trial. The ships started in mid¬ 
ocean, one going one way and one going the other way. 


This time only 
one hundred and 
eleven miles were 
laid, when the 
cable again 
parted. 



Field hastened 
to London to 
meet the men 


LAYING THE FIRST ATLANTIC CABLE 


who had backed him in his undertaking with their 
money. It was a council of war after a terrible defeat! 
But Mr. Field did not believe in surrender, even to the sea. 

On the seventeenth of July, 1858, the ships again set 
sail for mid-ocean. They spliced the cable, and the 
“Niagara,” with Mr. Field on board, sailed away for 
Newfoundland. The British ship went the other way. 
This time they were successful. Both countries were 
excited. Queen Victoria flashed a message under the sea 
to President Buchanan. 

Great was the rejoicing in New York, the home of 
Mr. Field. A religious service, expressive of the deep 
interest of the people in the success of his work, was 
held in Trinity Church, at which two hundred clergymen 
appeared. National salutes were fired, a great procession 
was formed, an address was made by the mayor of the 
city and, at a late hour, a grand banquet was held. While 
the banquet was going on, the cable gave its last throb 
and parted. 

The very day that a whole city rose up to do honor to 
the Atlantic telegraph and its author, it gave its last 








Cyrus West Field 


227 


flash and then went to sleep forever in its ocean grave. 

After five years of slow and toilsome work, caused by 
the fact that the War between the States was raging in the 
United States, Cyrus W. Field was again ready. When 
the vessel, bearing the cable, was within six hundred 
miles of land, the cable broke again. 

149. The final success. An Anglo-American Tele¬ 
graph Company was now formed. Mr. Field subscribed 
$50,000, Daniel Gooch, $100,000, and another person 
promised to bear a part of the expense. On Friday they 

set out and on another Friday they reached America 

•> 

with the cable safely laid. Mr. Field sent this message 
to England: “Hearts Content, July 27, 1866. We 
arrived here at nine o’clock this morning. All well. 
Thank God, the cabl$ is laid, and is in perfect working 
order. ” 

The success of this under¬ 
taking, after so many years of 
failure, produced a great effect 
throughout the civilized world. 

Mr. Field was the center of all 
rejoicing. Congress voted him 
a gold medal. England did 
honor to his name. The Paris 
Exposition of 1867 gave him 
the highest medal it had to 
bestow. From Italy he re¬ 
ceived a decoration. States 
and chambers of commerce in 
all parts of the nation passed 
resolutions in praise of his great work. After the work 
was finished, he took a trip around the world and received 



CYRUS W. FIELD 

From a photograph by Elliott 
and Fry, London 



228 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


honors from many nations. Mr. Field lived at Tarry town, 
New York. He died in New York City in 1892, at the 
age of seventy-three. 

CRAWFORD WILLIAMSON LONG, THE DOCTOR WHO 
FIRST USED ETHER IN AN OPERATION 

150. Inside the walls of a great hospital. Did you ever 
walk through a great modern hospital? There every¬ 
thing is quiet and orderly. You will find scores of clean 
rooms with white beds for sick people, rolling chairs for 
those getting better, nurses in spotless white to care for 
the patients, skilled doctors to cure their diseases, won¬ 
derful inventions of all kinds for the surgeons to use in 
their work. Nowhere else is so much done to relieve 
human pain. A good hospital is one of the finest things 
in the world today. Yet it could not do half of its work 
without one little thing. This thing is “ether.” When 

a man breathes it he goes 
to sleep so soundly that he 
feels no pain even when 
the surgeon has cut deep 
into his body. What a 
wonderful discovery! How 
much it helps both the 
doctor and the patient! 
Without it there could be 
no modern surgery. 
Think, therefore, how 
wonderful a thing it was 
when on March 30, 1842, 
Dr. C. W. Long first found 
he could use it in operating on his patients. This was a 
great day in medical history. 



CRAWFORD WILLIAMSON LONG 




229 


Crawford Williamson Long 

151. A wide-awake Georgia boy. Who was this Dr. 
Long? In the same year that Andrew Jackson whipped 
the English at New Orleans, a sturdy little boy was born 
in Danielsville, Georgia. This 
was Crawford W. Long, who 
was to become one of the 
famous men of his state. At 
school young Crawford did 
his class work well, and was 
promoted rapidly. When 
only fourteen years old he 
went to the University of 
Georgia, one of our oldest 
colleges. He looked so young 
that the boys called him “the 
Baby.” He roomed with another famous Georgian, 
Alexander H. Stephens, who later became vice-president 
of the Confederacy. Long was a bright lad, and he 
studied hard. At commencement he graduated second 
in his class. 

152. A young doctor. He did not feel that he had 
finished his education. He wanted to be a great doctor. 
So he studied medicine and finally went to a great medical 
college in Philadelphia. At last he was ready. He 
settled down as a doctor in Jefferson, Georgia. He was a 
fine fellow, and the people liked him. He was tall and 
broad shouldered, and loved to hunt, swim and fish. 
He could jump on his horse without using a stirrup. 
But besides being fond of outdoor sports, he loved to 
read and to study. He worked hard at his profession, 
and soon became so well known that people began to 
come long distances to see him. 







230 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

153. Long finds a new use for ether. In those days 
people knew that “laughing gas,” if you breathed it, 
would make you laugh and act in a funny way. Young 
people used to have a great deal of fun with it at school 
or at their parties. Sometimes they used ether instead. 
With them it was all a frolic. But Long watched them 
carefully. He noticed that the hard blows they some¬ 
times got did not seem to hurt them while they were 
breathing the ether. So he thought, “Why can I not 
make a patient breathe it when I have to cut into his 
body? Maybe he will not suffer.” One day a young 
man came to him with a knot on the back of his neck, and 
wanted it cut out. “Now here is a fine chance,” thought 
Long, “to try the effects of the ether.” The young man 
was willing, so Long gave it to him and cut out the knot. 
When the young man was told that the operation was 
all over, it was hard to make him believe it. He had 
felt no pain. This use of ether made modern surgery 
possible, and Crawford W. Long was the first doctor 
to perform an operation on a patient who was under 
its influence. 

The University of Pennsylvania, where he studied 
medicine, has put up a tablet in his'memory. It reads: 

To the memory 
of 

Crawford W. Long 
who first used ether as an 
anesthetic in surgery 
March 30, 1842. 

In his native state, Georgia, there has also been 
erected a monument in his honor. 


Suggestions Intended to Help the Pupil 


231 


SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL 

The Leading Facts. 1. Rumsey, Fitch, and Longstreet 
were inventors of steamboats before Fulton. 2 . Fulton went 
to England to study art and became interested in steam 
engines. 3. He invented the “Clermont,” which ran more 
than four miles an hour. 4. The building of canals began at 
the close of the Revolutionary War. 5. The Erie Canal 
was built because steamboats on the Mississippi were taking 
all the trade with western settlers away from New York. 

6. The locomotive was invented by George Stephenson, and 
gradually railroads were built to connect all parts of the 
country. 

7. Samuel Morse went to Yale College; studied painting 
in England. 8. He planned a telegraph instrument on ship¬ 
board; afterwards Vail helped him perfect it. 9. Morse took 
his telegraph to Washington, showed it to Congress, and 
after many discussions received a grant of money. 10. Bell 
and Gray invented the telephone; Marconi invented wireless 
telegraphy. 

11. Cyrus West Field made money so fast that he retired 
at thirty-four. 12. He became interested in a cable, and after 
many failures succeeded in laying a permanent one across the 
Atlantic in 1866. 

13. Crawford W. Long studied medicine at the University 
of Pennsylvania. 14. He was the first doctor to use ether as 
an anesthetic in surgery. 15. The anesthetic makes modern 
surgery possible. 16. Long performed the first operation with 
the use of ether on March 30, 1842. 

Study Questions. 1. What were the early ways of driving 
boats? 2. Before Fulton, who invented boats on American 
rivers? 3. Tell the story of Robert Fulton until 1807. 4. How 
fast was Fulton’s first boat to go against the current ? 5. Where 
did Fulton get the engine for the “Clermont”? 6. Picture 
the “starting” and the after history of the Clermont. 

7. Tell the story of the spread of the steamboat, the first 
canals, and why the Erie Canal was built. 8. Tell the story 
of the railroad. 

9. Tell of Morse’s early life. 10. When did the idea of 
sending news by electricity first come to him: 11. Tell the 
story of his early trials. 12. Who aided him? 13. Picture 


232 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

scene within the “locked shop.” 14. Tell the story of the 
instrument in Washington. 15. What did Morse say on the 
night his bill was before Congress ? 16. What was the message 

sent by the young lady? 17. Mention something about Bell, 
Gray, Marconi. 

18. How old was Cyrus Field when he retired from business ? 
ig. Who was Peter Cooper? 20. Tell the story of Field’s 
early efforts at cable laying. 21. Picture the scenes in New 
York. 22. The final message. 2j. What honors were given 
Field ? 

24. Why would modern surgery be impossible without 
ether? 25. Tell of Long’s early life. 26. How did the idea 
of using ether as an anesthetic in performing operations come 
to him? 

Suggested Readings. Robert Fulton: Glascock, Stories 
of Columbus, 186-188; Wright, Children's Stories of American 
Progress, 104-120; Mowry, American Inventions and Inventors. 
194-222; Thurston, Robert Fulton. 

Samuel F. B. Morse: Trowbridge, Samuel Finley Breese 
Morse; Mowry, American Inventions and Inventors, 270-277. 

Cyrus West Field: Judson, Cyrus W. Field; Mowry, 
American Inventions and Inventors, 278-285; Doubleday, 
Stories of Inventors, 3-16. 

Crawford W. Long: Laird W. Nevius, The Discovery of 
Modern Anaesthesia, by Whom Was It Made? 


Sam Houston 


233 



THE MEN WHO WON TEXAS, THE OREGON 
COUNTRY, AND CALIFORNIA 


SAM HOUSTON, HERO OF SAN JACINTO 

154. Gets a good start in life. Young Houston was 
born of Scotch-Irish parents, in Virginia (1793). His 
father had fought under General Morgan in the Revolu¬ 
tion. Sam Houston did not have much schooling, and 
when he was only thirteen his family moved to east 
Tennessee. Made angry by his older brother, he left 
home and went to live with the Cherokee Indians. He 
liked the wild 
life of these In¬ 
dians and took 
part in the Indi¬ 
an boys’ pas¬ 
times of hunt¬ 
ing, fishing, and 
playing games. 

He was now 
eighteen. He 
returned home 
and taught 
school a term at 
the Marysville 
Academy. In 
the War of 1812 
General J ackson 
called the men 
of Tennessee to 

arms. Young 
Houston answered the call, and fought against the 

Indians in the great “Battle of Horseshoe Bend.” He 


THE BATTLE OF HORSESHOE BEND 

Here Houston, under Jackson in the victory over the Creeks, 
won great distinction 





234 


Elementary History! Stories of Heroism 



was dangerously wounded after doing heroic deeds, and 
was a long time getting well. 

At twenty-five he began to 
study law in Nashville and in 

six months — just a third of 

% 

the time said to be necessary— 
he was ready to practice. 
Houston’s rise in the law was 
rapid and wherever the people 
knew T him, he won their favor. 
He went from one position to 
another until the people elected 
him to Congress. 

He was in Congress four years. 
He won many friends by his 
gracious behavior. The people 
of Tennessee made him their 
governor 

155. Runs away to live with Indians. But suddenly, 
without warning, Houston resigned as governor, and 
forsook his home and friends. He sailed down the 
Mississippi River to the Arkansas, and up this river 
several hundred miles to the land of his early friends, 
the Cherokees, whom the United States government had 
sent to that far-away country. 

Here Houston found the old chief — now the head of 
his tribe — who had adopted him as a son years before 
on the banks of the Tennessee. The chief threw his 
arms around him in great affection and said: “My 
son, eleven winters have passed since we met. My 
heart has wandered often where you were; and I heard 
you were a great chief among your people .... I have 


SAM HOUSTON 

From a photograph by Matthew B. 
Brady in the collection of the War 
Department, Washington, D. C. 




Sam Houston 


235 




heard that a dark cloud had fallen on the white path you 
were walking, and when it fell .... you turned your 
thoughts to my 
wigwam. I am 
glad of it—it was 
done by the Great 

Spirit.My 

wigwam is yours, 
my home is yours, 
my people are 
yours,—rest with 


When Andrew 
Jackson became 
president of the 
United States, Houston went, in his Indian dress, on a 
visit to the president at Washington. There he was 
warmly received by his old friend from Tennessee. 

Once more he 
turned his face 
toward the wilder¬ 
ness. He stopped in 
Tennessee and was 
warmly greeted by 
his old friends in 
that region. He 
did not, however, 
stay very long in 
Tennessee. 

156. Leader of 
Texans. Neither 
did he stay long 


HOUSTON AT SAN JACINTO 

Where his battle cry, “Remember the Alamol'\ 
won Texas independence from Mexico 


THE ALAMO, SAN ANTONIO 

Of its defense by Travis, Crockett, and their few 
men it was said, “ Thermopylae had her mes¬ 
senger of woe—the Alamo had none ” 







































236 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

with the Cherokees, but hastened to Texas where the 
people were already murmuring against the treatment 
they were receiving from Mexico. 

The people of Texas finally issued a Declaration of 
Independence. Thereupon the Mexicans resolved to 
send a large army into Texas and force the people to 
submit to Mexico. 

A most important event of this war was the capture, 
by a large Mexican force, of an old fortress called the 

Alamo. It was defended by 
one hundred and forty men, 
among them the famous 
‘ ‘ Davy ’ ’Crockett and Colonel 
Bowie — the inventor of the 
bowie knife. Only six Texans 
were alive after the capture 
of the fort. These six heroic 
men died fighting the Mexi¬ 
cans to the last. 

“Remember the Alamo!” 
became the war cry of every 
Texan. The Mexicans were 
approaching, five thousand 
strong, under General Santa 
Anna. General Houston com¬ 
manded about seven hundred 
Texans. 

Suddenly the news came 
that General Fannin and his 
men, five hundred in number, 
had been massacred bythe Mexicans at Goliad. The 
cause of Texan independence looked dark indeed. 

















Sam Houston 


237 


I 57* Wins a wonderful battle. Houston began a 
retreat of two hundred and fifty miles to the eastward. 
Santa Anna fol- 
lowed closely after 
him, but scattered 
his men, just as 
Houston wanted 
him to do, until he 
had with him but 
eighteen hundred 
men. They were 
now on the banks 
of the San Jacinto 
River. 

Houston waited 
until the Mexicans 
were a bit careless; 
then seven hundred 
Texans charged 
the breastworks of the Mexicans. After the first fire they 
clubbed their guns and went at it, pioneer fashion, with 
the cry, ‘ ‘ Remember the Alamo! ’ ’ The right and the left 
wings of the Mexicans gave way first, and then the center. 

They retreated, expecting to cross a deep, narrow 
stream on a log bridge, but Houston had had the bridge 
destroyed. The slaughter was terrific. The stream was 
choked with Mexicans and their horses. 

Santa Anna was captured and was turned over to the 
Texas government. Many thought he ought to die 
because of the massacres at the Alamo and Goliad, but 
Houston was generous toward the beaten man, and sent 
him on to visit Washington. 



Showing the territory added to the United Slates after the 
Louisiana Purchase 















238 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

Houston had been badly wounded, and sailed to New 
Orleans for medical care. He returned to be elected 
first president of the “Lone Star Republic,” as Texas 
was called. He was reelected for a second term and 
served his country well. 

Houston wanted Texas made a part of the United 
States. This was afterwards done, and war followed with 
Mexico. In 1845, Texas sent Houston to the Senate, 
where he served his state for fourteen years. He fully 
believed in the Union. He died in 1863. 

JOHN C. FREMONT, THE PATHFINDER OF THE 
ROCKY MOUNTAINS 

158. Gets his first taste of exploring. Fremont’s 
father was a Frenchman who was driven to America by 
the terrible French Revolution. His mother came of a 
distinguished family of Virginia. 



THE PATHWAYS OF THE EARLY EXPLORERS OF THE WEST 










John Charles Fremont 


239 


John Charles Fremont was born in Savannah (1813) 
while his parents were on a journey through the South. 
His father died soon after, and 
his mother went to live in 
Charleston, South Carolina. 

After a time at a good school, 

Fremont entered the junior 
class in Charleston College 
(1828). After leaving college 
he spent two and a half years 
on a voyage to South America. 

On his return he joined a 
company of engineers sent by 
the governor to explore the 
mountains between South 
Carolina and Tennessee, in order to find a suitable place 
for a railroad. This work was through a region rough, 
wild, and full of beauty. It gave young Fremont a taste 
for exploration which never left him. 

Fremont’s longing for a wild life was satisfied when he 
was made assistant to a famous Frenchman who was 
exploring the vast unsettled region between the upper 
Missouri River and Canada. 

159. Reaches the crest of the Rockies. After this 
work Fremont returned to Washington and later married 
Jessie Benton, the daughter of the senator from Missouri. 
Senator Benton was a great friend of President Jackson. 

Fremont was now related to a powerful man who was 
deeply interested in the growth of the “Great West.” 
Benton’s repeated speeches on the West and on the 
Oregon country called attention to the importance of 
the Pacific slope. 



JOHN C. FREMONT 
After a photograph from life 



240 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 




GAZING OUT AT THE BEGINNINGS 
OF RIVERS 


In 1842, Fremont, now a lieutenant of engineers, 
received permission from the government to explore the 

South Pass of the Rocky Moun¬ 
tains. With a party of hardy 
frontiersmen, and assisted by 
that famous guide, Kit Carson, 
he passed up the Kansas River, 
crossed to the Platte, went up 
this river, and finally reached 
the South Pass. 

Standing on the watershed of 
a continent, he saw the begin¬ 
nings of the rivers that flow into 
the Atlantic, and of others that stretched away through 
unknown regions to the Pacific. He took four men and 
climbed what has since been called Fremont Peak, one of 
the highest of the Rockies, about 13,800 feet above the 
sea. At the top Fremont unfurled the Stars and Stripes 
in all its glory! 

160. A pathway 
to the Pacific. Fre¬ 
mont reported his dis¬ 
covery at Washington, 
and immediately 
applied for orders to 
make an expedition for 
the purpose of dis¬ 
covering a more south¬ 
erly route to both Cali¬ 
fornia and Oregon. 

He left the little town of Kansas City with his guide, 
Kit Carson, in May, 1843. In September, after traveling 


FREMONT’S MEN BUILDING A FIRE IN THE SNOW 






John Charles Fremont 


241 


seventeen hundred miles, the little party beheld the 
shores of Great Salt Lake. What feelings must have 
stirred these men, shut in for months by mountains, 
at seeing what appeared to be an ocean, here in the 
midst of a continent! Little did they dream of that 
hardy band of immigrants, so soon to follow, who 
would make the shores of this sea blossom like a garden! 
Fremont wrote: 

“As we looked over 
that vast expanse of 
water and strained 
our eyes along the 
silent shores, over 
which hung so much 
doubt and uncer¬ 
tainty, I could hard¬ 
ly repress the almost 
irresistible desire to 
continue our explor¬ 
ation.” 

After making 
preparations, the 
party crossed over to 
a branch of the Columbia River. Down this they traveled 
until Fort Vancouver was reached, November 4. Here 
Fremont was the guest of the governor of the British 
Hudson Bay Company. 

November 10, on the way home, the little party started 
to make the circuit of the Great Basin, a vast depression 
beyond the east wall of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. 
But very soon they found deep snow on the mountains. 
They crossed into the Great Basin, but did not know it. 



fremont’s expedition reaching sutter’s 


FORT, CALIFORNIA 












242 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


According to Fremont’s observations, they were in 
the latitude of San Francisco Bay and only seventy miles 
from it. But what miles! Up and down that snowy 
mountain, which the Indians told him no man could cross 
in winter, with snow upon it as deep as the trees were 
high, and places where if a man slipped off he would fall 
half a mile at a time! 

They attempted to cross without a guide, in the dead 
of winter. In forty days the men and the surviving 
horses—a woeful procession crawling along one by one, 
skeleton men leading skeleton horses—arrived at Sutter’s 
Fort (Sacramento) in the beautiful valley of the Sacra¬ 
mento. Here genial warmth, trees in foliage, grassy 
ground, and flowers made a fairy contrast to the famine 
and freezing they had met on the mountains they had 

climbed. 

After enjoying 
the hospitality of 
Colonel Sutter, 
Fremont again 
crossed the moun¬ 
tains some five 
hundred miles 
farther south 
where the beauti¬ 
ful San Joaquin 
River makes a gap 
or pass. 

He was once 
more in the Great 
Basin, where he found a tribe of Digger Indians, so 
named because they got most of their food by digging 


THE UNFURLING OF THE AMERICAN FLAG IN CALIFORNIA 

The Stars and Stripes were raised for the first time in 
California near Monterey in 1846 



John Charles Fremont 243 

in the ground. Roots, insects, and lizards were their 
common food. 

Pushing forward with great energy, he reached Utah 
Lake, thus having nearly made the circuit of the Great 
Basin. 

Fremont hastened to Washington with the story of his 
discoveries. General Scott now recommended that he 
be made captain. 

Fremont’s third expedition, with Carson as a helper, 
began in the spring of 1845, and aimed to explore the 
Great Basin and the coast of California and Oregon. 

161. Whips the Mexicans in California. Little did 
Fremont —or any of his men —think what fortune had 
in store for them. On his w 7 ay to the Oregon country 
Fremont received news that the Mexicans were planning 
to kill all the Americans in the Sacramento Valley. 
War had already broken out between the United States 
and Mexico, but he did not know it. He returned, 
reaching the valley in May, 1846, and the settlers rushed 
to join him. In one month he had beaten the Mexicans 
and declared northern California independent. 

Fremont marched with all speed to Monterey and 
occupied it. This practically finished the conquest of 
all California in sixty days. 

162. Gold fever and railroads. Soon after this event 
Fremont returned to Washington, gave up his place in 
the regular army, and went to live in California. His 
journey to California made up his fourth expedition. 
The state elected him to the United States Senate. 
Fremont was of great service in the Senate in giving 
advice concerning the long-talked-of railroad to the 
Pacific coast. 



244 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


Early in 1848 gold was discovered in California. 
Everybody caught the “gold fever,” and the rush to 
California called loudly for a railroad. Fremont made 
his fifth expedition to survey three routes to the Pacific. 
After great hardships he returned to Washington to 
report what he had found. 

He now went to live in New York City and became a 
member of the party opposed to the extension of slavery. 
The new party, the Republican, nominated him as its 
first candidate for president (1856). He was defeated 
after a most exciting time, yet he carried all the Northern 
states but four. 

During the war between the states he was made a 
major general, but after a year or two he resigned. He 
was talked of for president in 1864, but did not make 
the race. 

After the war was over he was interested in a great 
continental railroad. From 1878 to 1881, he was governor 
of Arizona. Congress voted him a pension just before 
he died in 1890. 

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL 

The Leading Facts. 1 . Houston had little schooling and 
went to live with the Cherokee Indians. 2 . Wounded at Horse 
Shoe Bend; studied law in Nashville; was sent to Congress for 
four years; and was elected governor of Tennessee. 3 . Went 
to live with the Cherokees again, and then went to Texas. 
4 . The capture of the Alamo. 5. Houston won the battle of 
San Jacinto; was made president of the republic of Texas; 
and later elected to the United States Senate. 

6 . Fremont went to school in Charleston, but left for a 
voyage to South America. 7. He worked for exploring parties; 
by marriage he became related to a great man interested in 
the Far West. 8 . Fremont explored the South Pass, in his 
first expedition; on his second, saw Great Salt Lake, and 


Suggestions Intended to Help the Pupil 245 

crossed the mountains with great suffering, p. Fremont 
crossed a third time, conquered California; was made a senator, 
and became first candidate of the Republican party for the 
presidency. 

Study Questions, i. What was peculiar in Houston’s early 
life? 2. What had he done before he began to study law? 
3. What made people like him? 4. Where was the battle of 
Horse Shoe Bend fought? 5. How did the Cherokee chief 
welcome him? 6. Why did Houston go back to Tennessee? 
7. What drew him to Texas? 8. What were the first bad 
defeats of the Texans? p. Tell the story of San Jacinto. 
10. What kind of general, president, and senator did Houston 
make? 

11. Who was John Charles Fremont? 12. What of his 
youthful days? 13. What experience in early days after col¬ 
lege prepared him for his great work? 14. Who was Kit 
Carson? 15. Describe Fremont’s journey to the South Pass. 
16. Tell what was seen and what was done there. 17. What 
expedition did he now plan? 18. Picture the scene on the dis¬ 
covery of Great Salt Lake. ig. Picture his exploration of 
the Great Basin and crossing the Sierras. 20. What was the 
contrast at Sutter’s Fort? 21. Describe the Digger Indians. 
22. At what was Fremont’s third expedition aimed, and what 
did it really accomplish? 23. What was the “gold fever”? 
24. Tell of Fremont’s later life. 

Suggested Readings. Houston: Bruce, Life of General 
Houston. 

Fremont: Bigelow, Life of John Charles Fremont, 1-216, 

3 1 9 ~ 373 > 379 - 466 . 


246 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


THE THREE GREATEST STATESMEN OF THE 

MIDDLE PERIOD 


HENRY CLAY, THE FOUNDER OF THE WHIG PARTY AND 

THE GREAT PACIFICATOR 

163. The mill boy of the slashes. Henry Clay was 
born in Virginia in the year of Burgoyne’s surrender 
(1777). His father was a Baptist preacher, with a fine 
voice and a graceful way of speaking. He died when 
Henry was four years old. 

Little Henry lived near the Slashes, a low, fiat region, 
and went to school in a log cabin. When not at school 
he worked to help support the family. He could often be 
seen walking barefooted behind the plow, or riding the 
horse with a rope bridle to mill. From this he was 
called the “mill boy of the Slashes.” 

Henry was a raw-boned, awkward lad. The other boys 
laughed at him, but he read books when not at work, and 
soon could speak better than those who made fun of him. 

At fourteen he was a clerk in a store. But he seemed 

made for other things. 
He was put in the office 
of a famous lawyer who 
was clerk in one of Vir¬ 
ginia’s courts. 

A great judge liked 
him and took him to be 
his private secretary. 
For four years Clay 

THE "MILL BOV OK THE SLASHES” ^ 

law decisions. The great man often talked with Clay 
and advised him about the kind of books to read. 













Henry Clay 


247 


After studying law for a year, Clay began to practice 
in Richmond. He had plenty of time, so he formed a 
debating club, in 
which he was easily 
the leader. 

164. He makes 
good in Kentucky. 

Finally he made 
up his mind to 
go to Lexington, 

Kentucky, and try 
his fortune. There 
his rise in the law 
was rapid. His 
fame grew, and he 
became widely 
known as the lawyer who seldom lost a case. 

He married a well-to-do young lady and lived near 
Lexington on a beautiful estate called Ashland. 

People liked Henry Clay. His manner was charming 
and his voice was pleasing. He was warm-hearted. He 
understood people quickly. No wonder he had many 
friends! No wonder they sent him to the Kentucky 

1 

legislature and to Congress! 

In Congress they liked and admired him. Soon they 
made him Speaker of the House. This meant that he 
presided over its meetings and guided its work. No one 
has ever done this better than he did. 

165. A leader in the war of 1812. Clay was always 
proud of his country. He was quick to flare up if he 
thqught any one did it an injury. When the English 
began to seize sailors on our ships and to interfere with 

9 



HENRY CLAY IN CONGRESS 

Urgitig war in 1811, with England or France or even both 

if necessary 


/ 





































248 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


our trade, he spoke his mind. Others felt as he did, 
and finally in 1812 we went to war with England. 

Clay made speeches in 



Congress and over the 
country, stirring up the war 
spirit. “On to Canada!” 
was his cry. But the cap¬ 
ture of Canada was not so 
easy. Many generals failed 


INKSTAND USED BY HENRY CLAY 


and only Harrison and Perry made much headway in 
defeating the British in Canada. 

When the time for peace came President Madison sent 
Henry Clay and other noted Americans to Ghent, in 
Belgium, to meet the British agents. After many months 
of talking and disputing, they finally agreed on a treaty. 
(1814). This treaty has since been called the “Treaty 
of Ghent.” Great Britain and America were both glad 
that peace had come. 

166. Two great compromises. From 1819 to 1821 
Congress was debating the admission of Missouri into the 
Union as a slave state. The North opposed and the South 
favored, the. admission of Missouri. The excitement 
spread to the state legislatures and to the people. Many 
meetings were held, at which fiery speeches were made. 

Wise men thought the union was in danger. Clay 
saw the danger. He set to work to make peace between 
the two sides if he could. Day and night he urged his 
friends to come to some agreement. In Congress he 
spoke as even he had never spoken before. At last they 
passed the famous Missouri Compromise. This resolu¬ 
tion provided that Missouri should be admitted as a 

• 

slave state, but that no other slave state north of the 










Henry Clay 


249 


line of 36 degrees 30 minutes should ever be created. 
Both sides were pleased and the excitement died out. 

We have seen how South Carolina threatened to refuse 
to pay the tariff in 1832, and how President Jackson 
hurried the army and the navy there to make her people 
pay it. War seemed at hand. But Henry Clay came 
forward again and introduced the Compromise Tarrif 
Law. It was called a compromise because it gave each 
side a part of what it wished. Calhoun and other 
Carolinians favored it, because by this law the tariff 
was greatly reduced. It was carried through Congress. 
Both the President and South Carolina dropped their 
preparations for war. Again Henry Clay was hailed by 
the people as “the great pacificator’’ or peacemaker. 

167. Henry Clay, founder the 
of the Whig party. In the 
old days Jefferson and 
Hamilton had been the leaders 
of two great parties. Now 
Jackson and Clay were the 
men about whom the people 
gathered. The sturdy men in 
the new West looked up to 
Jackson. He was a fighter 
and a born westerner. They 
rallied around him and formed 
the new Democratic party. 

Some men did not like 
Jackson and his followers. 

They looked about for a lead.er 
This was Clay’s chance. He was popular, he was a fine 
speaker, he was a born leader. So they followed 



HENRY CLAY 

From a daguerreotype owned by 
Garrett Brown, Jr., Chicago 














250 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 



him and called their party the Whigs. It became a 
great party, but it never had a greater leader than 

Clay. Again and 
again they ran 
him for president. 
Every time some¬ 
thing happened to 
keep him from 
being elected. He 
had every other 
honor. He was a 
cabinet member 
and for years a 
United States 
senator. He had 

HENRY CLAY BEING CONGRATULATED 

In 1850, after his great plea before the Senate for more friends than 

the Federal Union 

any one else m the 

country. They liked his warm heart. They admired 
his courage, They believed him when he said: ‘‘I had 
rather be right than be President.” 

168. A great peacemaker. War with Mexico had 
come, and with it a great victory for the American army. 
The treaty of peace gave us a great deal of new territory. 
Should this be open to slavery? The South said, “Yes,” 
The North said, “No.” The quarrel grew so bitter that 
the Union was again in danger. 

Clay now came forward with a plan to settle the 
quarrel. Each side was to give up something. He made 
a great speech in favor of this compromise. He was now 
an old man. He was too weak to climb the steps of the 
Capitol alone. He leaned on the arm of a friend who 
helped him. As he entered the Senate, he found it crowded. 








Daniel Webster 


25t 

People had come from distant cities to hear him speak. 
When Clay arose the people clapped their hands, a strange 
thing in the Senate. The people were pleased. For two 
days his ringing words flowed on. Under the excitement 
he was young again. 

On the second day, some one suggested that he rest, 
and the Senate adjourn. But he refused; he might not 
be able to go on the next day. After he had finished his 
speech, a great crowd rushed forward to congratulate 
him. No such scene ever had been witnessed before in 
the Senate. 

Congress finally passed the Compromise of 1850. 
Both political parties pledged themselves to obey it. 
Public meetings in all parts of the country resolved to 
abide by it and the country rested for a time from the 
slavery question. 

Henry Clay’s work was done. On June 29, 1852, he 
died in Washington, the scene of so many of his triumphs. 

A great monument at Lexington, Kentucky, testifies 
to the people’s love for “Harry” Clay. 

DANIEL WEBSTER, THE DEFENDER OF THE CONSTITUTION 

169. From farm to college. Daniel Webster was born 
of good Puritan stock, in 1782, in New Hampshire. He 
was not a strong child.- No one dreamed that one day 
he would have an iron-like body. Daniel spent much 
of his time playing in the woods and fields. He loved 
the birds and beasts that he found there. He went to 
school, but the schoolmasters were not very learned, and 
Daniel could read better than most of them. The 
teamsters, stopping to water their horses, were glad to 
hear him read. He went to work in an old-fashioned 


252 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


sawmill, but even there he found time to read books in 
odd moments. 


One spring day his 
father took him to 
Exeter Academy to 
prepare for college. 
The boys laughed at 
his rough dress and 
timid manners. The 
little fellow was 
deeply hurt. But 
there was something 
natural about him 
that the boys admired, and he soon had friends. 

He finally entered Dartmouth College at the age of 
fifteen. He still kept the reading habit. The students 
liked and admired him. They had a feeling that he 
would some day be a great man. At this time he was 
tall and thin, with high cheek bones. His eyes were 
deep set, and his voice was low and musical in its tones. 
He loved to speak, even then. At the age of eighteen 
Webster gave the Fourth of July oration in his college 
town. The speech was full of the love of country and 
of the Union, then in its first days of trial. 

170. Lawyer and statesman. • He never forgot his 
father’s sacrifice in sending him to college. After he had 
finished at Dartmouth, Webster taught school in order 
that he might help his parents send his elder brother to 
college. He afterwards studied law. But he longed to 
finish his law studies in Boston. Finally good fortune 
put him in the office of Christopher Gore, a wise man, a 
great lawyer, and a brilliant statesman. In his office 



HOUSE AT ELM FARMS 

The birthplace of Daniel Webster. The site is now 
occupied by the New Hampshire State 
Orphan Asylum 






Daniel Webster 


2 53 



Webster studied until he was given the right to prac¬ 
tice law. 

» 

Within a few years, he was earning enough to enable 
him to take a life partner, the beautiful and accomplished 
Grace Fletcher, the daughter of a minister. She made a 
delightful home for him and their children. 

Webster was gaining name and fame as a lawyer, but 
the approach of the War of 1812 drew him into politics. 
He was elected to Congress, and took his seat in 1813. 
Webster’s most important speech was in favor of a war 
carried on by the navy: “If the war must be continued, 
go to the ocean. There the united wishes and exertions 
of the nation will go with you. Even our party divisions 
cease at the water’s edge. ” 

After the war, Webster left Congress for a number of 
years. He moved to Boston, where his law practice 
grew rapidly. His 
power as a leader 
was soon recog¬ 
nized. He was 
sent by Massa¬ 
chusetts to the 
United States 
Senate. There he 
won undying fame 
as the greatest of 
American orators. 


He was now a 
great man. When 
he entered a room, 

by his mere look and presence he drew all eyes 
toward him, and all conversation was hushed. In size, 


SCENE OF THE FOURTH OF JULY ORATION 

Daniel Webster asserting the dignity of patriotism at 
Dartmouth, July 4, 1800 




254 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


he looked larger and broader than he really was. His 
forehead was broad and massive. It towered above 
his large, dark, deep-set eyes. His hair was as black and 
glossy as a raven’s wing. Thus he looked in 1830 in the 
Senate, when he made his famous reply to Senator Hayne 
of South Carolina. 

171. The greatest orator of his time. Hayne had 
spoken against a protective tariff and in favor of nulli¬ 
fication. Webster felt called upon to reply. He denied 
the right of a state to nullify a law of Congress, and said 
that nullification was another name for secession. He 



SCENE IN THE UNITED STATES SENATE 

Daniel Webster defending the Federal Constitution against Hayne's idea of nullification 


closed his great speech with these words: “When my 
eyes shall be turned to behold, for the last time, the sun 




















































Daniel Webster 


255 


in heaven, may I not see him shining on the broken and 
dishonored fragments of a once glorious Union .... 
but may I see our flag with 
not a stripe erased or 
polluted, nor a single star 
obscured .... .but every¬ 
where spread all over in 
characters of living light, 
blazing on its ample folds, 
as they float over the sea 
and over the land .... 
that sentiment, dear to 
every American heart — 

Liberty and Union, now 
and forever, one and 
inseparable! ’ ’ 

This speech made Daniel 
Webster immortal. It did 
more; it fired the heart of 
many a lover of the growing Frow fl daguerreolyPe taken in l8so by 
nation to a new loyalty. J ‘ J * Hawes OJ Boston 

172. Settles our northern boundary line. In 1840 
the Whig party won a great victory. This was Webster’s 
party, he became Secretary of State, in the new president’s 
cabinet. At once he set to work to smooth out troubles 
that had arisen with England. Finally he arranged a 
great treaty which settled all these things. It fixed 
definitely the boundary line between the United States 
and Canada. 

After Webster had made this treaty, he left the cabinet 
and went back to the Senate. Here he helped Clay to 
put through his last great compromise. Webster put his 

















256 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

heart into the task, for he believed the Union was in 
danger. On March 7, 1850, he made a famous speech for 
the compromise. It was a great speech. But many of 
his friends in the North thought it conceded too much to 
the South, and were displeased. He was now an old man 
and his last days were made bitter by the thought that 
some old friends had forsaken him. 

One bright spot for Webster lay in the fact that Presi¬ 
dent Fillmore invited him to be Secretary of State again. 
After two years of service, he went back to Boston. He 



was received with joy by some of his friends and neigh¬ 
bors, and was hailed with shouts by the multitude. 
This must have made his heart leap with gratitude, for 
the praise of friends is pleasant. But men saw he was not 
like his former self. He went to his home at Marshfield, 
where he died, October 24, 1852. 

Webster was a great lawyer, a great statesman, and a 
great orator. 





























John C. Calhoun 


257 


JOHN C. CALHOUN, THE CHAMPION OF STATE RIGHTS 

I 73 * A famous school. John C. Calhoun was born in 
South Carolina, in the same year that Webster was (1782). 
His parents were Scotch-Irish. 

His father, a Revolutionary 
patriot, died while John was 
still a boy. 

From his mother he learned 
how to run the plantation. 

He read eagerly all the books 
he could get. Most of them 
were serious books written 
for grown people. His mind 
grew strong as he mastered 
them and thought out his 
own ideas in the fields and 
in the woods. 

JOHN C. CALHOUN 

At eighteen he entered a From a photograph by Matthew B. Brady 

in the collection of the War Depart- 

well-known school taught by menl ’ Washington , d. c. 
his brother-in-law, Mr. Waddell. Here he studied with 
other boys who later became famous. In two years he 
entered Yale College. When in college he studied hard, 
and graduated in less than the usual time. 

174. Enters public life. Calhoun studied law dili¬ 
gently for three years, a year and a half of the time in his 
native state, and a year and a half in Connecticut. He 
began to practice law in South Carolina, but did not have 
great success. Perhaps it was because the law was too 
dry for him, or perhaps because he was soon elected to the 
legislature of his state. 

In 1811 he was married, and was elected to Congress 
— two great events in his life. Henry Clay, as Speaker, 




258 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

immediately put Calhoun on an important committee. 
He quickly sounded a bugle call to war, declaring that 
it was the duty of “Congress to call forth the patriotism 
and resources of the country.’’ 

During the War of 1812 he worked hard in Congress 
for the success of the American Army. 

Soon after the war was over, Monroe became president 
and made Calhoun Secretary of War. He found the 



THE HOME AND OFFICE OF CALHOUN, AT FORT HILL, SOUTH CAROLINA 


office in the utmost confusion, but by hard and careful 
work, he left it a model for future secretaries. 

So far he had been legislator, congressman, and 
Secretary of War. Other honors followed. He was 
twice vice-president, for many years United States 
Senator, and once in later life Secretary of State. Few 
men have held so many high offices, or filled them so well. 

175. Calhoun favors nullification. In 1828 Calhoun 
wrote a famous paper called the “South Carolina 


















John C. Calhoun 


259 


Exposition.” In this he told the people of South 
Carolina there would always be a difference between the 
North and the South. The southern people, using slave 
labor, would be chiefly farmers. The Northern people, using 
free labor, would be largely manufacturers. Therefore 
laws that helped build up manufacturing and not farming 
would help the North and injure the South. Congress, he 
said, had no right to pass such one-sided laws. If it did, a 
Southern State could “nullify” them. This meant 
forbid their enforcement in its boundaries. Under his 
leadership South Carolina nullified the tariffs of 1828 and 
1832. This decision was to take effect February 1, 1833, 
provided the United States did not do something before 
that time to lower the tariff. 

President Jackson warned the 
citizens of South Carolina against 
the men who had led them to 
take this step. He hinted that 
the tariff would be collected 
by the use of force, if necessary. 

Congress passed a law giving 
him the right to use the army 
and the navy to carry out the act. 

War seemed at hand. Then 
Clay, the great peacemaker, 
presented his Com¬ 
promise Tariff. Both 
sides accepted it, and 
the danger passed. 

We have seen how Clay 

rushed his Compromise monument to calhoun at charleston, s. c. 

-rv.,.. ^ From a photograph of the monument, which 

Bill through Congress. was designed by a. e. Hamisch 




























26 o 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


176. Opposed to the Abolitionists. The people who 
wished to do away with slavery immediately were called 
Abolitionists. The Abolitionists stirred Calhoun deeply 
by petitions in favor of abolishing slavery in the District 
of Columbia. He believed this was only their first step 
in a fight on slavery in the southern states. If these 
slaves were freed suddenly, he thought the South would 
be ruined. 

In his defense of the South he even said that slavery 
was a “positive good.” This was not the view of most 
southern men and women. They believed that, if 
allowed to work this matter for themselves, the southern 
people would in time find a way to get rid of slavery 
safely. 

177. Opposes Clay’s last compromise. Calhoun was 

eager to see more southern states in the Union. He 
helped to get Texas in. When the war with Mexico ended 
he insisted that the new territory which we got should 
be open to slavery. He was not satisfied with Clay’s 
great Compromise of 1850 and opposed it. He was too 
ill to speak, and a friend read his address to a hushed 
and listening Senate. He declared that the Union was 
in danger because the Abolitionists had stirred up strife. 
He wanted all agitation against slavery stopped. In the 
second place, he wanted an equal division of territory 
between the North and the South. “If you of the 
North will not do this, then let our southern states 
separate, and depart in peace.” 

“Having faithfully done my duty to the best of my 
ability, both to the Union and my section .... I 
shall have the consolation .... that I am free from 
all responsibility.” 


Suggestions Intended to Help the Pupil 261 

On March 31, 1850, he breathed his last words: “The 
South! The poor South! God knows what will become 
of her!” 

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL 

The Leading Facts. 1. Clay’s father was a Baptist 
preacher. Young Henry went to school in a log cabin, and 
rode his horse to mill with a rope bridle. 2. He studied law, 
and went to Lexington, Kentucky, to practice. 3. Clay won 
his way to the hearts of the people; was elected to the House of 
Representatives for a great many years. 4. He favored the 
War of 1812; induced Congress to pass the Missouri Com¬ 
promise and the Compromise Tariff Law of 1833. 5. Clay 

ran again and again for president. He was author of the 
great Compromise of 1850. 

6. Webster was not a strong child, played in the woods, and 
read books. 7. He was graduated at Dartmouth, taught 
school, studied law, and was opposed to the War of 1812. 

8. Webster replied to Hayne, opposed the nullification of South 
Carolina, and was made Secretary of State by Harrison. 

9. Supported Clay’s Compromise of 1850, and was made 
Secretary of State by Fillmore. 

10. John C. Calhoun was born in South Carolina, and studied 
law. 11. He went to Congress, favored the War of 1812, and 
was afterward made Secretary of War. 12. Calhoun thought 
that a state had the right to nullify an act of Congress. 
13. He opposed the Abolitionists and the Compromise of 1850. 

Study Questions. 1. Who was the ‘‘mill boy of the 
Slashes”? 2. Name some of our great men besides Clay who 
loved books. 3. What could Clay do better than the other 
boys? 4. What help did he get from a great judge? 5. Why 
did Henry Clay form a debating club ? 6 . Where was Ashland ? 

7. Why was Clay so well liked? 8. What is a Speaker of the 
House of Representatives? 9. What did Clay do in stirring 
up the war spirit? 10. Why did Clay speak for the Missouri 
Compromise? 11. WhatwastheCompromiseTariff? 12. Why 

call Clay a peacemaker? 13. Did Henry Clay ever run for 
President? 14. What was the Compromise offered by Clay 
to the United States Senate in 1850? 15. Picture the scene 

when Clay made his last great speech. 


262 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


16. Who was Webster? 17. Why did he play in the woods? 
18. What proof that he loved books too? 19. Why were 
Daniel Webster’s feelings hurt at Exeter? 20. Why did 
students like Webster? 21. How did he reward his parents 
for sending him to college? 22. What was Webster’s view of 
the War of 1812? 23. Picture Webster in 1830. 24. Was 

Webster in favor of nullification? 25. Quote something from 
his speech in reply to Hayne. 26. Do you think Harrison 
selected the best man for Secretary of State? 27. Why did 
his friends in the North blame Webster for his Seventh of 
March speech? 28. How were Webster’s last days affected 
by public opinion? 

29. Who was Calhoun and what did his reading and his 
roaming in the woods and fields do for him? 30. Where did 
he go to college and when did he reach Congress? 31. What 
position did he take in the War of 1812? 32. What office did 

President Monroe give him? 33. What other high offices did 
Calhoun hold? 34. What effect had the “South Carolina 
Exposition”? 33. What did South Carolina do? 36. How 
was a clash averted? 57. What did Calhoun say of the Aboli¬ 
tionists? 38. What did he say of the Union? 39. What did 
he say of slavery? 40. What was Calhoun’s position on the 
Compromise of 1850? 41. What were his last words? 42. 

When did he die? 

Suggested Readings. Henry Clay: Wright, Children's 
Stories of American Progress, 159-178; Brooks, Century Book 
of Famous Americans, 145-155; Anderson, United States 
Reader, 281-285; Frost, The Mill Boy of the Slashes. 

Daniel Webster: Baldwin, Four Great Americans, 125-186; 
Brooks, Century Book of Famous Americans, 37-48; Hart, 
How Our Grandfathers Lived, 341-344; Bolton, Famous Ameri¬ 
can Statesmen, 177-229. 

John C. Calhoun: Brooks, Century Book of Famous Ameri¬ 
cans, 140-144; Rogers, The True Henry Clay, 248-254. 


Abraham Lincoln 


263 


ABRAHAM LINCOLN, THE PRESERVER 
OF THE UNION 


A POOR BOY BECOMES A GREAT MAN 

178. The backwoodsman who became president. 

Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky, February 12, 
1809. His parents were so poor that they hardly knew 
that they were poor. When he was seven years old, his 
family crossed the Ohio River and settled in Indiana. 
There they found a place in the deep, dark forest, in 
the southern part of the state, and began to build a cabin 
home. Abe was an industrious little fellow and worked 
hard to help to build it. It was not much of a house— 
only fourteen feet square. One side was left out and 
here the fire was built. It was not very warm in winter 
and not very cool in summer. The hard ground was the 
floor. 



The family were living in the cabin when Abe’s mother 
sickened and died. He was broken-hearted. She had 
taught him what 
little he knew. 

Her last words to 
him were: “Try 
to live as I have 
taught you and to 
love your Heav¬ 
enly Father.” 

Many years 
after, when he 
became famous, THE BIRTHPLACE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

he said: “All that I am or hope to be, I owe to my 
angel mother.” She was put in a coffin roughly cut 









264 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


out of logs and laid to rest in a corner of the clearing. 
Years afterward a good man put over the grave a stone 

with this inscription: 
‘‘Nancy Hanks 
Lincoln, the mother 
of President Lincoln, 
died October 5, A. D. 
1818, aged 35 years.” 

A year later his 
father went back to 
Kentucky to look 

THE GRAVE OF NANCY HANKS LINCOLN abOUt for Si W^e. He 

found a widow named Sarah Bush Johnston, and married 
her. He had known her before he met Nancy Hanks. 
She was thrifty and industrious and her bedding and 
other household goods filled a four-horse wagon. 

Before winter came she made her husband put a good 
floor and a door and windows in the cabin. She took 
charge of Abe and his sister, and made them “look a 
little more human. ” She put good clothes on the children 
and put them to sleep in comfortable beds. 

179. Lincoln educates himself. Schools were scarce 
in that new country, and Abe never had more than a 
year at school. His stepmother encouraged him in every 
way to study at home. 

John Hanks, a boy brought up with Lincoln, says: 
“When Abe and I returned to the house from work, he 
would go to the cupboard, snatch a piece of corn bread, 
sit down, take a book, cock his legs up as high as his head, 
and read.” He read, wrote, and ciphered all the time. 

Young Lincoln was soon able to do a “man’s work,” 
although only a boy. He was strong and powerful, and a 




























































Abraham Lincoln 


265 


great favorite. In that family of brothers, sisters, and 
cousins, his good-natured jokes and stories kept peace. 
Abe was the great story-teller of the family. 

At the age of nineteen Lincoln reached his full height 
of six feet four inches. By that time he had read every 
book he could find, and could “spell down” the whole 
country. “He could sink an axe deeper into the wood 
than any man I ever saw, ’ ’ said a neighbor. 

When Abe was twenty-one, the entire family started 
for Illinois. Along forest roads, and across muddy 
prairies, for two weeks they drove their wagon until they 
came to the Sangamon River. 

They built a cabin on the north fork of the river. With 
the help of John Hanks, young Lincoln plowed fifteen 
acres, planted it in corn, and split the rails from the tall 
walnut trees on the ground 
and fenced it. 

180. Tries to be a busi¬ 
ness man. The next year 
he was hired to take a flat- 
boat to New Orleans. The 
boat was loaded with hogs, 
pork, and corn. The wages 
of the trip were fifty cents 
a day, and twenty dol¬ 
lars besides for each man. 

They ‘ ‘ poled ’ ’ and rowed 
their slow way down the 
Ohio and the Mississippi. LINCOLN READI 0 N P G EN B ? IR T E HE LIGHT OF THE 

At New Orleans, Lincoln After a painting by Eastman Johnson 

first saw a slave auction. As he turned away he said to 
a friend: “If ever I get a chance to hit that thing, I’ll 










266 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 



hit it hard.” He did not then dream of the mighty blow 
he would one day strike. 

After his return from New Orleans, he became a clerk 
in a store. One day a woman gave Lincoln six cents 
too much. That very evening he walked several miles 
to find her and give back the money. At another time 
Lincoln found that he had not given a woman as much 
tea as she paid for. He went in search of her and gave 
her the rest of the tea. 

About this time Lincoln joined a company of soldiers 
who were going to the Black Hawk War. An Indian 
chief named Black Hawk was on the warpath. The 
whole frontier was up in arms against him and his band 
of braves. 

Lincoln was well pleased when nearly all the men in 
his company walked over and stood by his side. This 

was their way of 
saying they wanted 
him for captain. 
No election in later 
days gave him 
greater pleasure. 

Little fighting was 
done by Lincoln’s 
company, but sit¬ 
ting by the camp-fires 
in the evening, he 
became famous as a 
story-teller, and he 
made many friends. 

181. Makes a success in politics. On his return from 
the war, though he was only twenty-three years old, he 


LINCOLN SPLITTING RAILS TO FENCE 
IN THEIR FARM 






















Abraham Lincoln 


267 



WHALE-OIL LAMP 

From Lincoln's log 
cabin 


became a candidate for the state legislature, but was 
defeated. 

A little later he was again a candi¬ 
date. This time he won. After the 
election, he said to a friend: “Did 
you vote for me?” “I did,” replied 
the man.“ Then you must lend me 
two hundred dollars.” Lincoln needed 
a suit of clothes and money to pay the 
expense of traveling in a stage coach 
to the capital! 

Lincoln was reelected to the legislature three times. 
He generally got more votes than other men on the ticket 
because the people liked his quaint sayings and his 
unpretending manner. 

In the meantime, after three or four years of study, he 
was given a license to practice law. He made it a rule 
never to take a case which he believed to be wrong. He 
was a successful lawyer, but the road to fame by way of 
the law was a slow one. It gave Lincoln, however, a 
chance to engage in politics, as we have already seen, 
and in politics his success was great. 

He liked “stump speaking. ” He liked to go about the 
country from one speaking place to another, or to travel 
from one county to another to meet the different sessions 
of the courts. He spoke what he believed to be the 
truth. He was always in earnest, and made his hearers 
feel that he was sincere. 

In 1846 the Whigs of Springfield, where he was then 
living, put Lincoln forward for Congress. He was elected. 
He was not in favor of the war with Mexico, then going 
on, and was not selected to run again. Lincoln returned 








268 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


to Springfield, and began the practice of law with greater 
success than ever before. 

In 1854 a great opportunity came. In that year 
Senator Douglas of Illinois had Congress pass an act 
that repealed the old Missouri Compromise. This threw 
the territories Kansas and Nebraska open to slavery. 
It raised a storm of indignation in the North. 

Douglas spoke at the state fair, held in Springfield. 
He tried to explain why he favored the Kansas-Nebraska 
Bill. Lincoln made a speech four hours in length, ably 
answering the argument of Douglas. This speech 
made him the champion of the anti-slavery people in 
the state. 



LINCOLN SPEAKING IN THE STATE CONVENTION 


The same question was fought out by them at Peoria 
a little later. People began to talk of Lincoln as the next 


























































Abraham Lincoln 269 

senator. More and more, popular opinion in the state 
began to turn toward Lincoln. 

Accordingly, in 1858, at Springfield, the Republicans 
in convention named Lincoln for senator. He made a 
speech to the Republicans, in which he said that this 
country could not remain half slave and half free—that 
it must become all slave or all free. 

This called every man to face a new question. Some 
friends of Lincoln pleaded with him not to say that the 
country could not remain half slave and half free. “I 
had rather be defeated with that expression in my speech 
than to be victorious without it,” said Lincoln. 

182. The Lincoln-Douglas debates. Douglas attacked 
this speech, and Lincoln challenged him to hold several 
joint debates before the people of Illinois. Seven debates 
were arranged, in which Douglas insisted upon opening 
and closing four. 

The people of Illinois were mainly farmers in 1858. 
They traveled long distances to hear these giants debate 
the question of slavery. Some of them were several 
days coming and going — in wagons, on horseback, or on 
foot. The newspapers in the larger cities sent men to 
listen to the debates, and take down the words used by 
Lincoln and Douglas. The editors knew the people were 
anxious to read what had been said about slavery. 

‘ ‘ Can the people of a .... Territory, in any lawful 
way, against the wish of any citizen .... exclude 
slavery?” Lincoln asked. “Yes, ” said Douglas. That 
was a fatal answer. For, by this answer, Douglas lost 
the support of the Democrats of the South, although he 
held the Democrats of Illinois. He could still be senator, 
but he could never be President. 



270 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

These debates made Lincoln widely known. He was 
invited to speak in Ohio, New York, and New England. 

In May, i860, the Repub¬ 
licans of Illinois met in state 
convention. Lincoln was 
there. The people picked 
him up, lifted him over 
their heads, and placed him 
on the platform. The cheer¬ 
ing was loud. Just at this 
moment John Hanks came 
into the hall carrying two 
fence rails, with the Stars 
and Stripes mounted between 
them, bearing in large 
words the following: 
“Taken from a lot made 
by Abraham Lincoln and 
John Hanks in the Sanga¬ 
mon Bottom in the year 
1830.” The people stood up and cheered, and threw 
their hats high and shouted for Lincoln, the “rail- 
splitter.” He made a speech. The convention then 
and there named him as the choice of the Repub¬ 
lican party of Illinois for the next president of the 
United States. 

183. Lincoln becomes President. A few weeks later, 
Abraham Lincoln was nominated in Chicago by the 
National Convention of the Republican party for the 
presidency. The debates between Lincoln and Douglas 
split the Democratic party into a northern and a southern 
wing. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

From a rare photograph taken by Alexander 
Hesler in Chicago, i860, and loaned by 
the Chicago Photogravure Com¬ 
pany, who own the original 


Abraham Lincoln 


271 


Douglas was nominated by the northern wing and 
Breckenridge by the Southern wing. This division in 
the Democratic party resulted in the election of Lincoln 
to the presidency, in November, i860. 

During the fall and winter, seven southern states left 
the Union and set up a government which they called the 
“Confederate States of America.” They had their 
government all in running order before Lincoln left 
Springfield. 

In February,-1861, Lincoln said good-by to the people 
of Springfield and started for Washington to take his 
seat as president. Along the route there were cheers, 
bonfires, and military parades with miles of marching men. 
At Philadelphia, Lincoln raised a flag over Independence 
Hall. He made a touching speech in regard to the men of 
the Revolution who had sat in that hall, and pledged 



himself to abide by the principles of the Declaration of 
Independence. 













272 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


On March 4, with soldiers guarding the capitol, Lincoln 
read his inaugural address and took the oath of office. 
This speech was listened to with the greatest interest. 
It was now plain to everbody that Lincoln meant to fight, 
if fighting were necessary to save the Union. 

In April, Confederates fired on Fort Sumter in Charleston 
Harbor, South Carolina. After brave resistance, Colonel 
Anderson and his men surrendered the fort to the Con¬ 
federate troops. 

Lincoln immediately sent forth the call for seventy-five 


thousand men. War had 
come — a war between the 
North and the South. Four 
more states left the Union 
and joined the “Confederate 
States.” Men from Mary¬ 
land, Kentucky, and Missouri 
fought on each side. Lincoln 
declared it a war to save the 
Union and not a war to get 
rid of slavery. The great 
majority in the North were 
willing to fight for the Union 
which Jackson, Webster, and 
Clay had done so much to 
save. 



But the slavery question kept 
coming up. The Confederates 
used the slaves to build forts, 
cook for the army, and do 


THE STATUE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
IN LINCOLN PARK, CHICAGO 
By Augustus St. Gaudens 


other work. Thus the slave took the place of the white 
soldier. Other slaves raised food supplies and cared 











Abraham Lincoln 


273 


for the women. In this way the slaves were used con¬ 
stantly to help in the fight against the Union. 

The time had come to destroy slavery. Lincoln now 
saw that by freeing the slaves he could strike a heavy 
blow at the Confederacy. So as the Commander in chief 
of the Union armies he issued the Proclamation of 
Emancipation, January 1, 1863. 

The war, however, continued more than two years 
longer. The long list of dead and wounded on both 
sides saddened Lincoln. Day by day the lines in his 
* kindly face grew deeper. 

Finally the news came that General Grant had ham¬ 
mered General Lee’s lines to pieces, and that Jefferson 
Davis and his cabinet were leaving Richmond, the 
capital of the Confederacy. 

Grant was pursuing Lee’s army. He overtook it, 
and on April 8 offered terms of surrender. Lee accepted 
these terms. The President’s heart was filled with 
gratitude that on either side no more lives were to be 
sacrificed. 

184. President Lincoln assassinated. The evening 
of April 14, 1865, Lincoln went to Ford’s Theater in 
Washington to rest body and mind. As he sat in a 
box, John Wilkes Booth, an actor, shot him in the back 
of the head. Booth sprang upon the stage, flourished 
his revolver, and escaped. 

Abraham Lincoln died the next day. Thus the nation 
lost a great leader. Truly he was a man “with malice 
toward none, with charity for all.” 

Many monuments have been built to honor the name 
of this great man. One of the most celebrated is the 
St. Gaudens statue in Lincoln Park, Chicago. 


i 


\ 


274 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL 

The Leading Facts. 1 . Lincoln, born of poor parents in the 
state of Kentucky, went to Indiana when seven years of age. 

2. Helped build a cabin. 3. Lincoln lost his mother, and his 
father married again. 4. His stepmother took good care of 
Abe and his sister. 5. Lincoln had little schooling, but read 
a few books very thoroughly. 6. He was very powerful at 
nineteen and had read so much he could “spell down” the 
whole countryside. 7. The family moved to Illinois, and Abe 
was hired to take a flatboat down the Mississippi. 8. He saw 
a slave auction at New Orleans, g. Lincoln was elected cap¬ 
tain in the Black Hawk War; elected to the legislature for 
four terms. 10. He studied law and was elected to Con- . 
gress. 11. Attacked Douglas for the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. 
12. Lincoln and Douglas held joint debates. 13. Nominated 
for the presidency by the Republicans in convention at Chicago. 

14. Douglas displeased the South and the Democratic party 
was split. 15. Lincoln was elected president, the South 
seceded, and Douglas stood by the Union. 16. Lincoln issued 
the Emancipation Proclamation. 17. Lee surrendered to 
Grant. 18. Lincoln was assassinated soon after the close of 
the war. ig. Many monuments have been built to honor 
Lincoln’s name. 

Study Questions. 1. Describe Lincoln’s early surroundings. 

2. Picture Abe and his sister. 3. How old was Abe when his 
mother died? 4. What did he owe to his mother? 5. What 
did Abe’s new mother do for him? 6. Was Abe fond of read¬ 
ing? 7. Why was Abe liked in the family? 8. How tall was 
Lincoln ? How old was he when the family started for Illinois ? 
g. What did he do soon after going to Illinois? 10. What did 
he see in New Orleans that was new to him ? 11. Prove Lincoln 

was honest. 12. Prove that the men of the countryside had 
confidence in Lincoln. 13. How old was Lincoln when he ran 
for the legislature? 14. Tell the story of Lincoln’s experiences 
in running for the legislature. 15. What was his success as a 
lawyer? 16. Why did Lincoln love public speaking? 17. Why 

was Lincoln not elected to Congress again? 18. How did 
Lincoln become the champion speaker against Douglas ? 
ig. What was the effect of the debate? 20. What new decla¬ 
ration did Lincoln make in his Springfield speech? 21. Why 
did Lincoln challenge Douglas ? 22. How did Lincoln become 


I 


Abraham Lincoln 275 

widely known? 23. What was the fatal question put to 
Douglas by Lincoln? 24. What did Douglas lose by his 
answer? 25. Picture the scene in the state convention of 
i860. 26. What was the effect of the Lincoln-Douglas debates 

on the Democratic party ? 27. Why did this result in Lincoln’s 
election to the presidency? 28. Give an account of the 
demonstrations made in honor of Lincoln. 29. Who fired the 
first shot in the War between the States, and where? 30. How 
many slave-holding states remained loyal to the Union? 
31. What kind of war did Lincoln make of the War between 
the States? 32. Why would the question of slavery keep 
coming up? 33. How did the Proclamation of Emancipation 
affect the strength of the Confederates ? 34. What did Lincoln 
think of when Lee surrendered? 33. Tell the story of Lincoln’s 
assassination. 36. How did the nation feel over Lincoln’s 
death? 37. Where has a celebrated monument been erected 
in Lincoln’s honor? 

Suggested Readings. Abraham Lincoln: Baldwin, Four 
Great Americans , 187-246; McMurry, Pioneers of the Mississippi 
Valley , 170-184; Wright, Children s Stories of American Prog¬ 
ress, 159-178, 299-327; Brooks, Century Book of Famous 
Americans, 193—210; Hart and Stevens, Romance of the Civil 
War, 1-112; Bolton, Lives of Poor Boys Who Became Famous , 
342-267; Mabie, Heroes Every Child Should Know, 309-319; 
Nicolay, Boys' Life of Abraham Lincoln; Coffin, Abraham 
Lincoln; Southworth, Builders of Our Country, Vol. II, 186-217. 


276 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

JEFFERSON DAVIS 

PRESIDENT OF THE CONFEDERACY 

185. Two famous Kentucky boys. With only a year’s 
difference in their ages there were born on two small 
Kentucky farms, in the early years of the last century, 
two boys who were both to become famous. They were 
Jefferson Davis and Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln’s father 
moved to the Northwest. He settled in Illinois, and 
there Lincoln grew up to become the leader of the 
North. Davis’ father took him down into Mississippi. 
Here he grew up and became in time the leader of the 
South. 

186. How young Davis went to school. Mississippi 
was then a new country. The early settlers lived simply 
on their farms. Every day young Davis and his little 
sister walked two miles to a country schoolhouse made 
of logs. When he was seven years old some of his father’s 
friends came by on their way to Kentucky. Young 
Davis was sent with them so he could go to a better 
school. It was a great journey. There were no rail¬ 
roads and the party traveled on horseback. Davis and 
another boy his age had ponies to ride. Day after day 
they rode through woods and past farms that were all 
new to them. At night they stopped at some farmhouse, 
or, better still, camped in the woods by a spring. 

In Kentucky he studied for two years, and made many 
new friends. Then as the home schools were getting 
better he went back to Mississippi. By this time the 
first steamboats were running on the Ohio and the 
Mississippi rivers. On one of them he made the journey. 
It was all new and interesting to him. At each stop people 
came on board to see the boat without oars or pole or sail. 


Jefferson Davis 


277 


187. Learning to be a soldier. It was interesting to 
go from one school to another in this way and see the 
country too, but it led to 
nothing. So Davis was happy 
when one day the news came 
that he could go to the great 
school at West Point, New 
York. Here the United States 
trained young men to be 
army officers. West Point was 
not then the beautiful place 
that it is now. Davis and 
two other men had to share a 
small room together. There 
were three chairs, a table, and 
mattresses on the floor. They 
brought water from a spring. 

It was a soldier’s life. But 
Davis was a born soldier and liked it. He studied, he 
drilled, he had some fun, and he made friends. Once at 
least he risked his life for others. By accident a bundle 
of cotton caught fire in a room filled with powder. 
While the others ran away, Davis quickly caught up the 
burning cotton, and threw it out before the fire could 
spread. 

188. In the West with Indians. Then came the day 
when he graduated and became a proud young lieutenant 
in the United States Army. Into the Northwest he was 
sent to keep the Indians and the new settlers at peace. 
The work w r as hard and full of danger. He cut logs in the 
great forest to build forts. He and his men paddled up 
rivers where no white men yet lived, and were chased by 



JEFFERSON DAVIS 

From a portrait painted by Browne, 
now in the Westmoreland Club, 
Richmond, Virginia 









278 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

Indians in their canoes. Finally Black Hawk, an Indian 
chief, led his “braves” against the whites. It was a 
hard fight, but the whites won. Black Hawk was taken 
down the river on a boat. At every stop the settlers 
wanted to crowd in and look at him. But Davis knew 
how he felt and kept them all out. It was the kindness 
of one brave man to another who was in his power. 

189. A Mississippi planter. Davis was now twenty- 
eight years old. He was getting on well, but he had 
other plans for his life. He resigned from the army and 
married the daughter of Colonel Zachary Taylor, the 
man who later became a famous general and a president 
of the United States. Davis then went with his bride 
to Mississippi and settled down to a southern planter’s 
life. He was near his brother, who had now become a 
rich man. For a few months all was happy and peaceful. 
Then his wife was taken ill. In spite of all he could do 
she died. It was a sad blow to him. He sought comfort 
in hard work. There was much to do. New fields had 
to be cleared and plowed. Crops had to be planted and 
cared for. Houses must be built. Slaves had to be 
trained for all the work. In a word, the whole big 
plantation, with all its people, required his guidance. 
It was a heavy care, but it had its pleasures. He liked 
the open air and the feeling of independence. Sometimes 
there was hunting, and now and then there were visits 
from other planters. His brother was his closest friend. 
In the evenings they read good books, magazines, and 
papers. Often they had long talks about politics and 
questions of the day. 

This was the life of many men in the South at that 
time. The planters were the leaders throughout the 


Jefferson Dams 


279 



HOME OF JEFFERSON DAVIS AT RICHMOND, VIRGINIA 
From a photograph by Eugene J. Hall 


South, and took an active part in public life. So Davis, 
too, in time was drawn into it, and soon became a mem¬ 
ber of Congress. He 
married again, a young 
woman from his own 
state, Miss Yarina 
Howell, of Mississippi. 

190. A war with 
Mexico. Then came 
the war with Mexico. 

It grew out of an old 
quarrel between the 
Americans in Texas and 
the Mexicans across 
their border. Texas had at one time been a part of 
Mexico. Settlers began to come into it from the United 
States. This alarmed the Mexicans, who feared they 
would soon lose control of it. So they did all they could 
to keep our settlers out. When they failed, they treated 
the settlers so unjustly that they rose in revolt. Under 
Sam Houston Texas won its independence. Finally the 
United States took it in as a state. Then Mexico and 
the United States disagreed about the boundary. Each 
sent troops there. The Mexicans attacked our men in 
the land that we claimed. Congress replied by declaring 
that “war exists by act of Mexico herself.” 

191. Davis becomes a soldier again. Great was the 
excitement in our country. A regiment of men in 
Mississippi chose Davis as its colonel. His fighting blood 
was stirred and he accepted. Success came to him 
quickly. In the famous battle of Buena Vista the 
Mexicans seemed about to win, but Davis threw his brave 


10 




















280 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

Mississippians into position like a big letter “V” and drove 
them back. It saved the day and gave our men the 
victory. 

192. Senator Davis. Davis was now the hero of 
Mississippi, and soon went to Washington as senator from 
his state. He became a leader there; for he was honest, 
he spoke the truth, and he feared no man. Men listened 
when he spoke, and his fame spread through the South. 

193. Secretary of War. When a new president came 
into office he looked around for a good man to be his 
Secretary of War. Why not Davis? He had the army 
training, he had shown himself a brilliant officer. He 
was already a proved leader of men. He was honest and 
able. So President Pierce made him his Secretary of 
War. What a rapid rise! He was not quite forty-five 
years old. Yet in that time he had risen from a poor 
boy to a well-to-do planter, had gained a good education, 
had won honor in two wars, had been senator, and was 
now a cabinet member. Little had he dreamed in his 
plain room at West Point that he should one day shape 
the plans for the army at Washington. Yet here he was, 
and he set to work to build up a fine army. He made 
better rules for it. He gave it better guns. He built 
better forts. He pled for better railroads and dirt roads 
throughout the country. 

194. A defender of Southern rights. His term in the 
cabinet came to an end after four years. As soon as he 
was free, Mississippi sent him back to the Senate. Here 
he again took his place as leader among the southern 
men. He spoke in a clear voice and right to the point. 
His eyes flashed and there was a ring in the tones in which 
he boldly demanded justice for the South. Should not 


Jefferson Davis 


281 


Southerners have an equal chance in the new lands of 
the West? They had helped in all the fights and hard 
struggles that won them. Who could now keep them 
from coming with their slaves to settle in this common 
territory ? 

195. Southern states secede. In the Northern states 
many men felt differently. They said, “Let us keep all 
slavery out of the new lands.” They formed a new party 
and elected Lincoln president. In that party also were 
some who were eager to do away with slavery in the 
southern states as soon as they could. 

It was an exciting time in the South when the news 
spread that Lincoln had been elected. What did it 
mean? Would southern rights any longer be safe in the 
Union? Many thought not, and one after another the 
southern states withdrew. It was a trying time for 
Davis. Many ties bound him to The Union. He had 
followed its flag as a soldier on the battlefield. He 
had taken part in its government. He had tried hard 
to find some way to settle the differences between the 
North and the South. He earnestly wished to save the 
Union if the South could be made to feel safe in it. He 
had found no way. He believed that his state had 
done right to withdraw. He felt his greatest duty was 
to stand by it. He told the Senate all this in a frank and 
manly speech, said good-by to them, and went back to 
his home in Mississippi. 

196. President of the Confederacy. What would the 
southern states do, now they had left the old Union? 
The answer came quickly. Montgomery, Alabama, was 
in the center of the South. Here hurried men from the 
other southern states to form a southern union. Never 


282 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

before had the little city seen such busy times or so many 
famous men. What should the new nation be called? 
Quickly they decided, and named it the “Confederate 
States.” Of course there must be a president of it. Who 
should it be? Many were mentioned, but the choice 
was soon made. It was Davis. He had strong claims. 
He was a trained soldier, he had been Secretary of War, 
he had been the leader of the South in the Senate. People 
knew he was honest, patriotic, and able. They felt that 
he was the right man. So when he reached the city a 
great crowd met him, and he was presented to them with 
the words: “The man and the hour have met.” 

The next day he stood on the porch of the capitol of 
Alabama and took the oath as president of the Confed¬ 
eracy. It was a solemn 
moment. A great crowd 
covered the hillside in front 
of him. He raised his hand 
and swore that, God helping 
him, he would do his best to 
make the Confederacy a 
success. And the people 
cheered and went home. 
Some thought there would 
be no war, but Davis knew 
better and felt the heavy 
burden that now lay on him. 

197. A war president. 
War soon came — a long 
and terrible war. The 
capital was moved from Montgomery to Richmond, Vir¬ 
ginia. Here Davis lived as president of the Confederacy 



MONUMENT TO JEFFERSON. DAVIS AT 
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA 

From a photograph by Ewing Galloway 














Jefferson Davis 


2 83 


during four long years, No one ever had more cares to 
trouble him, or tried more earnestly to keep his oath and 
make the Confederacy a success. On battlefield after 
battlefield the Southern soldiers fought with a bravery 
never surpassed. Southern generals did all that skill 
could do. At home, Southern women, with the help of 
old men and young boys, ran the farms and guided 
business with wonderful heroism. But the North was 
too strong in numbers and in resources. At last the end 
came. One Sunday as Davis sat in church a messenger 
touched him on the shoulder. He quickly went out to 
learn what had happened. There was a message from 
General Lee. He could hold the lines no longer. That 
night the Northern soldiers would be in the city. What 
hurrying there was! What grief! What hasty planning 
’ to fight if possible somewhere else! That night Rich¬ 
mond fell. 

198. Davis’ last days. The fall of its capital was the 
real end of the Confederacy. Some of the armies strug¬ 
gled desperately on. Soon they too had to surrender. 
Flesh and blood could resist no longer. Davis was 
made a prisoner and kept in a cell at Fort Monroe for 
many weary months. His health failed, but his spirit 
was not broken. He was a prisoner, but he had done to 
the best of his ability what he believed to be right, and 
his soul was untroubled. At length he was released. He 
traveled to various places in search of health. Finally 
he went back to Mississippi. His lands were gone, his 
property destroyed. He lived quietly near the seashore 
in a home that was left him by an old friend. He died 
in 1889, beloved by his own people, the “Leader of the 
Lost Cause.” 


284 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL 

The Leading Facts. 1. Jefferson Davis, though born in 
Kentucky, spent most of his life in Mississippi. 2. He attended 
school near home, and later in Kentucky, 3. Desiring to 
become a soldier, he entered West Point. 4. After becoming 
an officer, he fought against the Indians in the Northwest. 

5. Later he resigned from the army, married, and settled down 
to the life of a southern planter. 6. He was elected to Con¬ 
gress, and then as a colonel fought bravely in the Mexican 
War, afterward returning to Congress as senator. 7. Under 
President Pierce he made an able Secretary of War. 8. When 
the South seceded, he left the senate, where he was then 
serving, to become president of the Confederacy, p. After 
the war was over, he finally settled down to live quietly in his 
old home state of Mississippi. 10. He was called the “ Leader 
of the Lost Cause.” 

Study Questions. 1. Describe Davis’ early schooling. 2. 
How did he make the trip back to Kentucky? 3. What was 
his ambition, and how did he prepare himself for his life work? 
4. How did he serve his country in the field before the War 
between the States? 5. What other positions did he hold? 

6. Where did he settle down, and what was his occupation? 

7. What was he doing when the War between the States 
broke out? 8. Why was he well fitted to act as president 
of the Confederacy? p. Tell the story of his life after the 
close of the War between the States. 10. What did his 
own people call him ? 

Suggested Readings. Jefferson Davis: Varina Howell 
Davis, Jefferson Davis , A Memoir; Life and Reminiscences of 
Jefferson Davis by Eminent Men of His Time; Landon Knight, 
The Real Jefferson Davis; F. H. Alfriend, Life of Jefferson 
Davis. 


Robert E. Lee 


285 


THE MAN WHO LED THE CONFEDERATE 

ARMIES 


ROBERT EDWARD LEE 


199. A young Virginian. Robert E. Lee was born in 
Virginia in 1807, with the best blood of the Cavaliers in 
his veins. His father was “Light Horse Harry” Lee, 
the famous cavalryman of the Revolution. 

As young Lee grew up, he followed in the footsteps of 
his great father. He went to school at Alexandria, 
George Washington’s old town, and prepared for West 
Point. He was a hard-working student at West Point 
and a fine soldier. During the entire four years he got no 


demerits. Everybody liked 
young man. He graduated 
near the head of his class, 
and became an engineer in 
the United t ates Army. 

While a boy he made a 
visit at Arlington, across the 
Potomac from Washington. 
This was the home of 
George Washington Parke 
Custis. Here young Lee met 
Mary Custis. The early 
friendship grew into love. 
She became his wife two 
years after he left West 
Point, and Arlington became 
their beautiful home. 

200. In the United States 
Mexico, he earned honor 1 


the handsome, dignified 



ROBERT EDWARD LEE 

From a portrait painted, by Browne, now 
in the Westmoreland Club, 
Richmond, Virginia 

Army. In the war with 
ad fame. General Scott 













286 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


admired his skill and courage and praised him highly. 
When the Mexican War was over, and peace had come, 


Lee was put in 
charge of the 
Academy at 
West Point. 
While there he 
improved the 
discipline and 
the course of 
study at that 



ARLINGTON HOUSE, THE HOME OF GENERAL LEE 


famous military school. After three years, Lee resigned 
his position at West Point and went to fight the Indians 
on the frontier. vSoon came the great War between the 
States. Lee loved the Union. He had fought beneath 
its flag. He had many friends in its army. But he felt 
that his highest duty was to his native state. 

201. Goes with his state. When Virginia followed 
other slave states out of the Union and into the Confed¬ 
eracy, Lee went with his state. Before he took this 
step, President Lincoln sent a friend to offer him a 
promotion in the army if he would fight for the Union. 
Lee replied: “How could I take part against my native 
state, or raise my hand against my relatives, my children, 
and my home? ” 

Virginia put him at the head of her troops, and when 
she joined the Confederacy, he was made one of her 
generals. Early in 1862 he was made military adviser 
to the Confederate president, Jefferson Davis. When 
General Joseph E. Johnston was wounded at the battle 
of Fair Oaks, General Lee was given charge of the army 
defending Richmond. 



Robert E. Lee 


287 

202. Lee wins victory after victory. The change was 
quickly seen. Although McClellan, the Union general, 
had a much larger army, Lee immediately attacked it in 
a seven days’ battle, compelling McClellan to retreat. 
The attack upon Richmond had failed. 

Lee turned and hurled his army with great fury against 
another northern general, Pope, defeated him, and 
threatened Washington. The excitement in the capital 
was great. 

Flushed with victory, General Lee decided to lead his 
army into Maryland. Supplies for the army were 



LEE’S ARMY ON THE MARCH TO INVADE MARYLAND 


abundant. But the people of Maryland did not join his 
army as he had expected. The bloody battle of Antietam 


























greatest battle of the War between the States. On the 
last day occurred Pickett’s famous charge. Fifteen 


288 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

was the result of this invasion. General Lee slowly 
withdrew his troops across the Potomac into Virginia. 

In December he fought and defeated the Union army 
at Fredericksburg. Early in 1863 Lee again defeated the 
Union forces, with great slaughter, at Chancellorsville. 
Here Lee lost his most brilliant and dashing general, 
“Stonewall” Jackson. 

After resting his troops and gathering reenforcements, 
Lee made a dash through Maryland into Pennsylvania. 
Washington and the North were full of excitement, but 
a great Union army was now hurrying to meet him. 

203. The battle of Gettysburg. The two armies met at 
Gettysburg, and there for three days was fought the 


pickett’s charge at Gettysburg 
This heroic assault marke£ the turn of the Confederate tide 







































Robert E. Lee 


289 


thousand Southern veterans, led by General George E. 
Pickett, with bayonets gleaming, charged across the 
valley—more than 
a mile in width—right 
up to the muzzle of 
the Union guns. The 
slaughter was fearful. 

Finally the Confed¬ 
erates retreated. 

More than fifty thou¬ 
sand men, On both "traveler.” general lee's horse 

sides, were killed, wounded, and missing at Gettysburg. 

204. Facing a powerful army. General Lee crossed 
the Potomac, and never again invaded the North. Little 
was done against him until General Grant, in 1864, took 
command of all the Union forces, which now numbered 
nearly one hundred and twenty thousand men. Against 
this powerful army General Lee could oppose not more 
than seventy thousand. 

Then came a long and terrible struggle. For a year 
battle followed battle. Lee did all that a great general 
could do. Again and again he drove back Grant’s men. 
But in the'end Grant’s larger army pressed him back to 
Richmond. 

205. The fall of the Confederacy. General Lee’s 
troops were wearing out. There were no more to take 
their places. Food and clothing became scarce. So 
many of the Confederates states had been overrun by the 
Union troops that supplies of all kinds were hard to get. 
Before this, Southern women had been busy knitting 
socks and preparing other supplies for the army, but now 
it was hard to find material for supplies. The time must 





290 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 



Gettysburg 


Baltimore 


Washi 


HifbisTRjcm 

tiiWF COtumiA 


F re d e ripksoum 


nlorsvi lie • 

Wilderness • 


Richmond 


Petersburg 


soon come when the Confederacy could hold out no 
longer. 

At last its capital, Richmond, fell. April 2, 1865, was 
Sunday. President Davis was at church. A message 
was handed to him. He quickly left the building. Lee 
had told him that Richmond must be given up that night. 
All were busy getting ready. At nightfall Lee’s soldiers 
left the city. In the morning Grant’s army came in. 

Lee’s army 
was sur¬ 
rounded at 
Appomattox 
Court House. 
General Lee 
and General 
Grant met at 
a farmh ouse 
and agreed 
upon the 
terms of 
surrender, 
April 9, 1865. 

It was a 
trying time for 
General Lee. 
He went back 
“to break the 
sad news to 
the brave 
troops he had 

so long commanded.They pressed up to him, 

anxious to touch his person or even his horse.” 


SCENE OE WAR AROUND WASHINGTON AND RICHMOND 















Robert E. Lee 


291 


With a voice filled with deep emotion, he said to his 
soldiers. We have fought through the war together; 
I have done the best I could for you. My heart is too 
full to say more!” And then, in silence, he rode on to 
his headquarters near by arid passed alone into his tent. 

Morning brought the final parting with his loyal army. 
Surrounded by a throng of sorrowing soldiers, General 
Lee mounted his faithful gray horse, “Traveler,” Then, 
the last sad farewells said, he rode slowly away to his 
home in Richmond. 

In a short time, General Lee was elected president of 
Washington College, now Washington and Lee Univer¬ 
sity, at Lexington, Virginia. Many offers of help came 
to him at this time, but he declined them all. Other 
offers to engage in business and make a fortune came to 
him, but he refused them all, preferring his quiet duties 
as a college president. 

General Lee died in Lexington in 1870. A monument 
to the memory of this great man has been erected in 
Richmond, and likewise one in Lexington. Since the 
close of the War between the States, General Lee’s 
fame as a noble man and a great soldier has grown 
steadily. 

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL 

The Leading Facts. 1. Robert E. Lee was born in Virginia, 
and went to school at Alexandria. 2. Went to West Point, won 
honors, and became an engineer in the United States Army. 
3. Lee waS’ in the Mexican War, and won praise from General 
Scott; took charge of West Point. 4. Followed Virginia into 
secession and was given command of her troops. 5. Given 
charge of the army defending Richmond, and began the seven 
days’ fighting. 6. Defeated General Pope, invaded Maryland, 
and fought the Battle of Antietam. 7. General Lee won the 
battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, but failed at 


2Q2 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

Gettysburg. 8. Defended Richmond against Grant for nearly 
a year. p. Lee accepted Grant’s terms at Appomattox. 
io. Accepted the presidency of Washington College, n. Two 
monuments, one at Richmond and one at Lexington, have 
been erected to Lee’s memory. 

Study Questions, i. What do you know of “Light Horse 
Harry”? 2. Tell the story of young Lee until he left West 
Point, j. Tell of his promotion after leaving West Point. 

4. What did Lee do for West Point? 5. Why did Lincoln 
think Lee would accept a promotion in the Union army? 

6. What was Lee’s reply? J. What positions had he held 
when he became head at Fair Oaks? 8. What two victories 
led Lee to invade Maryland and what great battle was fought ? 
Have you heard of this battle before? p. What two victories • 
led Lee to invade Pennsylvania ? 10. Tell the story of Gettys¬ 

burg. 11. What was the effect on Lee’s army? 12. How 
could jo,000 men hold 120,000 at bay? 13. Tell the story of 
Lee’s fighting during the next year. 14. Picture the condition - 
of Lee’s army in the spring of 1865. 75. Picture General 

Lee’s farewell to his soldiers, ij. Tell the story of Lee after 
the war ceased. 18. Where have monuments been erected to 
his memory? 

Suggested Readings. Robert E. Lee: Hale, Stories of 
War, 61-73, 119-149; Mabie, Heroes Every Child Should 
Know , 289-308; Magill, Stories from Virginia History , 

162-172. 


Ulysses S. Grant 293 

OTHER HEROES OF THE CIVIL WAR 

ULYSSES S. GRANT 

206. Grant, the great Union general. The rise to fame 
of Ulysses S. Grant was rapid. He had fought in the 
Mexican war and had risen to be a captain in the United 
States Army. But he had left the service. When the 
war began he was a clerk in a small city of Illinois. Four 
years later he received the surrender of Lee’s gallant 
army and the War between the States was at an end. 

Grant was called “the silent soldier.” He spoke little 
and avoided everything showy. But he was cool and 
brave, and fought most stubbornly. At Vicksburg he 
first showed the world that he was a great soldier. At 
the start of this campaign 
Grant’s men lay in the 
swamps across the river 
from Vicksburg. They 
were far away from other 
northern troops. Month 
after month Grant failed 
in his attempt to seize 
Vicksburg. 

Every one thought that 
he should withdraw. But, 
on the contrary, Grant 
decided to cross the 
river to the Confederate 
side, leaving his supplies 
behind. Carrying only 
its ammunition, his army marched against the southern 
troops. Grant saw that if the various bodies of 



ULYSSES S. GRANT 

From a photograph taken in 1866 by 
F. Cutekunst, Philadelphia 







294 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

Confederates should join against him, he would be 
crushed. Accordingly he rushed his troops from one 
battle to another, defeating the various Confederate 
forces before they could unite, and driving them back to 
Vicksburg. 

Just as one of these battles began an officer rode into 
camp with orders for Grant to withdraw his troops and 
march away from Vicksburg. Grant listened to the 
officer, then rode off to the fight leading his cheering men. 
He said afterwards: “I saw no more of the officer; I 
think not even to this day.” He had decided to take 
Vicksburg, and not even orders to the contrary could 
turn him away. 

Grant stayed before Vicksburg until that city fell. 
Lincoln needed such a man, and soon placed him over 
the whole Union army. In one of his great campaigns, 
Grant said: “I propose to fight it out along this line 
if it takes all summer.” And he did “fight it out” 
through many fierce battles until the Southern armies 
were worn out and peace was restored. 

After the war, General Grant was elected president of 
the United States, and served two terms. He later 
traveled around the world. He was a famous man, and 
everywhere he was received with respect and honor. In 
Riverside Park, New York, there is a great monument 
in his memory. 

“STONEWALL” JACKSON 

207. A Confederate general who would not yield. 

“Stonewall” Jackson won his name at Manassas, the 
first battle of the War between the States. Some of the 
Confederate troops were retreating, when one of their 


Stonewall ’ ’ Jackson 


295 



generals saw that Jackson and his men still held their 
ground. He shouted, “Look at Jackson’s brigade! 
There it stands like a stone 
wall!” Jackson’s example 
gave fresh courage to the 
wavering troops. They rallied 
and drove the Union forces 
from the field. From that day 
the gallant officer was known 
as “Stonewall” Jackson. 

He was one of the most 
brilliant and successful generals 
of the war. Of his many 
fierce attacks none was better 
carried out than his last at the 
battle of Chancellorsvijle. 

Here Lee was opposed by a 
much larger Union army 
under General Hooker. While a part of the Confederate 
forces held their position in front of the Union troops, 
Jackson took about 20,000 men and quietly slipped away. 
Through the dense forest they marched around the flank 
of the Union army. They moved so silently that the 
Northern men were not aware of danger until rabbits 
and deer fled out of the woods through which Jackson’s 
men were coming. Before the Union troops could form, 
soldiers in gray were upon them like a whirlwind. Jackson 
himself led his men, cheering them on. The battle 
resulted in a great victory for the Confederates. 

In the evening Jackson was shot while at the front. 
His first thought was of the battle, and he said: “You 
must hold your ground.” As he was dying he still 


THOMAS JONATHAN (“STONE¬ 
WALL”) JACKSON 

From a war-time photograph, taken on 
the field by Matthew B. Brady, in the 
collection of the War Department, 
Washington, D. C. 



296 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

thought he was leading his men. His last words were: 
“Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of 
the trees.” 

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL 

The Leading Facts. 1. When the War between the States 
broke out, Grant was a clerk in a small town in Illinois. 
2. Called “the silent soldier.” 3. Besieged Vicksburg for 
many months, fighting many battles. 4. Defeated the Con¬ 
federates by strategy and took Vicksburg. 5. Made com¬ 
mander in chief of the Union army. 6. After the war he was 
twice elected president of the United States 7. In Riverside 
Park, New York, there is a great monument in his memory. 

8. Since the day of the Battle of Manassas, where Jackson’s 
brigade held its ground against the Union soldiers and turned 
a rout into a victory, Jackson was known as “Stonewall” 
Jackson, p. Jackson surprised the Union soldiers at Chan- 
cellorsville, and defeated them. 10. Jackson was in the battle 
of Chancellorsville. 

Study Questions. 1. What was Grant doing when war 
broke out? 2. Where did he first distinguish himself as a 
soldier? 3. Tell how he defeated the Confederates at 
Vicksburg. 4. What was his reward? 5. Tell of his life 
after the close of the war. 6. For how many terms was he 
elected president? 

7. Where and how did “Stonewall” Jackson win his title? 
8. Tell the story of Jackson at Chancellorsville. p. What 
were Jackson’s last words? 

Suggested Readings. Ulysses S. Grant: Burton, Four 
American Patriots , 195-254; Brooks, Century Book of Famous 
Americans , 181-191; Hart and Stevens, Romance of the Civil 
War, 179-183; Hale, Stories of War , 21-29, 74-91, 92-118, 
168-187, 226-264; Bolton, Famous American Statesmen , 

307-360. 

Stonewall Jackson: Addey, Stonewall Jackson , m-10. 
3 i“ 93 » 94 ~ I 33 > 154-240. 


Theodore Roosevelt 


297 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT 

THE TYPICAL AMERICAN 

208. Theodore Roosevelt as a boy. Although the son 
of a rich man, Roosevelt both as boy and man was most 
democratic. One of his forefathers, Claas van Roosevelt, 
came from Holland to New York in the steerage of a 
sailing vessel, a lowly way to travel. This was long ago, 
before Peter Stuyvesant was governor of New Netherland. 

Roosevelt’s mother was a southern woman of great 
beauty. She was true to the South in the dark days of 
the War between the States; her brothers were in the 
Confederate navy. The father stood for the Union and 
for Lincoln. But there was no quarreling in this home 
over these differences. No wonder Theodore Roosevelt 
could refer with such pride, when a man, to the heroic 
deeds of the Blue and the Gray. 

Theodore was a sickly boy. For this reason he was 
sent to a private school or had a tutor. The children 
spent their summers among the delights of a country 
home. They had all sorts of frolicsome games. They 
had pets: cats, dogs, rabbits, woodchucks, crows, and a 
Shetland pony. They ran barefoot and joined their 
elders in playing at haying, harvesting, and picking 
apples. In the fall, they'climbed the hickory and the 
chestnut trees in search of nuts. Sometimes they 
played “Indian,” in real fashion, by painting hands and 
faces with pokeberry juice! But the happiest time was 
Christmas. Roosevelt declares that he never knew 
another family to have so jolly a time. 

“My father,” said Roosevelt, “was the best man I 
ever knew. ” He did not permit his children to become 


298 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 



selfish. Each was taught to divide his gifts —not always 
an easy thing for older folks to do. In this home the 
children were taught to avoid cruelty and to practice 
kindness. Idleness was forbidden. The children were 
kept busy doing interesting things. Neither was young 
Roosevelt permitted to play the coward. He was taught 
to face unpleasant things like a man. His father never 
could stand a lie, even if it were only a “white” one. 
There was no room in that home for the coward or the 
bully. 

209. At college. At eighteen, after a year or more 
spent in Egypt, Palestine, and Germany, Theodore 
Roosevelt came home a more enthusiastic American than 

ever. He now entered 
Harvard. He made a 
good but not a brilliant 
student. Throughout 
his course he taught a 
mission Bible class. He 
would not be without 
something to do even 
on Sunday. 

Yet he was not a 
“bookworm,” for he 
took his part in all kinds 
of college sports. He 
was a good sportsman. 
His true character was 
shown in a boxing bout. 

One day Roosevelt and 
another student were having a hard fight. Students 
crowded round them. The battle was hot. Time was 


THEODORE ROOSEVELT 
From a photograph by Bell 









Theodore Roosevelt 


299 


called. Roosevelt promptly dropped his hands, while 
the other fellow landed a smashing blow on Roose¬ 
velt’s nose. “Foul! foul!” shouted the students. “No. 
He did not hear,” cried Roosevelt, and warmly shook 
hands with the offending student. How many boys can 
stand a blow in the face and not get angry? Roosevelt 
could. 

210. Hard knocks make him strong. Roosevelt 
resolved to make himself stronger. He took boxing 
lessons, and became skilled in this art. He rode horse¬ 
back in the chase. He took long tramps into the dark 
woods of Maine. In the summer he went on canoe trips, 
and in the winter on long hikes on snowshoes. 

He was nominated for the state legislature. He must 
now show his mettle. He began canvassing. A saloon¬ 
keeper declared his license too high. Roosevelt declared 
it was too low, and told the saloonkeeper that he would 
make it higher if elected. Despite the opposition he was 
elected. 

Before he got through at Albany he learned that no 
man whose moral character was weak could be a leader. 
Another lesson he learned was that a man in office must 
act as if he were never to hold another. He was elected 
three times to the legislature and made a name for himself 
in fighting bad laws and demanding good ones. 

Every kind of active life appealed to him. He longed 
to try the life of a cowboy and hunter. So he spent two 
years on the ranches of the Northwest. He was a young 
man then and with all the enthusiasm of youth he hunted 
the big game of the Rockies, rode the “bucking bron¬ 
cho,” and slept with his saddle for a pillow in the 
“round-up.” 


300 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

This life tested courage as well as endurance, but 
Roosevelt was equal to the test. One day a drunken fellow 
with pistols in his belt ordered him to treat the crowd. 
Roosevelt knocked him down and took his guns from him. 
Again, Roosevelt, with two companions, chased three 
horse thieves one hundred and fifty miles and arrested 
and jailed them. 

In this big young country where bravery and manliness 
meant so much, the people thought there was no one like 
him. 

He served as civil service commissioner for four years 
under President Harrison and for two years under Grover 
Cleveland, a Democrat. He was not head of the com¬ 
missioners, but he worked so hard and fought the ‘ ‘ spoils¬ 
man” so boldly that everybody called it Roosevelt’s 
Commission. He had to fight both Republicans and 
Democrats, for they were bent on turning men out of 
office simply because the positions were needed for their 
party workers. 

In 1895, Roosevelt was appointed police commissioner 
for New York City. As head of the Police Board he was 
on the Health Board, too. He took special delight in 
looking after playgrounds for the children of the slums. 
He was aided by Jacob Riis, who wrote How the Other 
Half Lives. Roosevelt’s idea was to take children from 
the streets and put them in playgrounds to prevent them 
from becoming “toughs.” People outside of his own 
state were beginning to take notice of him. A Washington 
city editor said, “Roosevelt is the biggest man in New 
York City. I saw a steady stream of people go up and 
down the stairs which led to police headquarters. He 
has more visitors than the President.” 


Theodore Roosevelt 


301 


211. Changes promotion rules. A policeman in New 
York could not get promoted unless he had a “pull.” 
But Roosevelt changed this. A veteran of the War 
between the States, who had served for a long time as a 
policeman and had no “influence,” rescued twenty-eight 
men and women from drowning. Congress had given 
him two medals, but New York City did nothing. 
Roosevelt came. The veteran, one night, plunged into 
the icy river and rescued a woman. Roosevelt showed 



COLONEL ROOSEVELT AND A GROUP OF ROUGH RIDERS 


his appreciation by promoting him. Every man on the 
force did his best now, for he knew promotion would come. 

Roosevelt was called to be assistant secretary of the 
navy, under President McKinley. He built up the navy 
and sent Dewey with the fleet to the Pacific. The war 
with Spain came. Roosevelt resigned, raised the Rough 
Riders, and took command with Colonel Wood. 

212. “Rough Rider” becomes president. For bravery 
in leading the Rough Riders in a gallant charge up San 
Juan Hill in the face of a murderous fire, he was promoted 
and a medal was ordered for him. 

He went back to New York with his Rough Riders, 
who fairly worshiped him. “He knows everybody in 




302 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

the regiment,” said one. “He is as ready to listen to a 
private as a major-general,” said another. The boys 
presented him with a statue of the “Broncho Buster.” 
Tears ran down the sun-tanned faces as a comrade made 
a touching speech. Roosevelt now was a real hero. 

On his return from war he was elected governor of 
New York. He told the leaders of his party that he 
would be controlled by no men or set of man. He said 
that he would gladly talk with all classes of men, but 
must be permitted to make up his own mind. This 
was plain talk for the “bosses.” “He just plays the 
honesty game,” said a Tammany politician. But he had the 
same old battles as when a young man in the legislature. 

After two years Roosevelt was nominated for the 
vice-presidency. The New York “bosses” were glad, 
because they knew that as president of the Senate he 
could do little to disturb them. But he had set a good 
example, and the great man who brought notice of his 
nomination said, “There is not a young man in the 
United States who has not found your life and influence 
an incentive to better things and higher ideals.” 

He made a whirlwind campaign. He spoke for eight 
weeks in twenty-four states, traveling more than twenty 
thousand miles, making nearly seven hundred speeches 
to three million citizens. 

In just six months President McKinley was assassinated 
and Roosevelt became President. 

213. At height of ambition. He had made himself 
strong. He had always loved and respected his father 
and mother. He had taught the mission class while in 
college. He had worked with plain men for the public 
good. He had fought against spoilsmen in state and 


7 heodore Roosevelt 


3°3 


national politics. He had. battled for the right of chil¬ 
dren to playgrounds in New York City. He had led 
the Rough Riders up San 
Juan Hill. He had stood, 
as governor of New York, 
against wrong - doing in 
high as well as low places. 

He had been made vice- 
president against his will, 
for the good of his party. 

Now he stood at the 
height of political power 
in America. He was Pres¬ 
ident of the United States. 

The people liked him so 
well that they called him 
to be President a second 
time; and that, too, by 
the largest majority ever roosevelt as a “rough rider” 

. . , , , . From a photograph by Underwood cr> Underwood 

given up to that time. 

He was the youngest President who had ever been elected. 

His, motto was “a square deal for everybody.” He 
did many fine things. Pie stopped men from stealing 
public lands in the West. He built great dams in the 
dry regions to hold the water for raising crops. He 
established national parks containing millions of acres 
of woodland. He kept millions of acres of coal lands 
from falling into the hands of private companies. He 
established fifty-one national reservations where birds 
might nest or roost protected from harm. He enjoyed 
saving what nature had given men. 

Down to this time, Roosevelt was the most learned man 




304 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

ever made President. He knew more subjects and knew 
them better than most educated men, and he was a 
great writer. 

214. Always fought lawbreakers. Roosevelt was 
known as the ‘ ‘ man with a big stick, ’ ’ because he fought 
lawbreakers so hard. 

After he retired from the presidency he made a long- 
planned visit to Africa and Europe. He hunted big 
game in Africa and gave to the United States the specimens 
he killed. You may see them in the National Museum 
when you visit Washington. 

In Europe he was well received by the big men. He 
afterward went to South America to visit the interesting 
people there and to see their wonderful country. 

In 1912 he helped to form a new political party, the 
“Progressives.” They nominated him for President, 
but Woodrow Wilson was elected. 

In the great World War, Roosevelt stood for the Allies 
from the first. He opposed our neutrality and our failure 
to get ready earlier for the war which he saw coming. 

When America declared war, he begged to take to 
Europe an army which would have gathered quickly at 
his call. Other plans were already made for our army. 
President Wilson felt he could not change these even to 
send Roosevelt. So he could not go himself, but he did 
send four sons. Two of them, Theodore and Archie, 
were wounded, and Quentin gave his life flying and 
fighting inside the German lines. 

The country was shocked when the news came in 
January, 1919, that Roosevelt was dead. No other man 
roused the love and admiration of the boys and girls as 
did Roosevelt. The children called him “Teddy.” 


Theodore Roosevelt 


305 


SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL 

The Leading Facts. 1. Though the son of a rich man 
Roosevelt even as a boy was most democratic. 2. In the 
Roosevelt home idleness, selfishness, and cowardice were 
unknown, 3. In college Roosevelt was a good student and a 
good sportsman. 4. Roosevelt was elected three times to 
the New York state legislature. 5. In 1895 he was appointed 
police commissioner for New York City. 6. Under President 
McKinley he was chosen Assistant Secretary of the navy. 
7. During the Spanish-American War he organized the Rough 
Riders and led them to victory. 8. On his return from war 
he was elected governor of New York. 9. In 1900 he was 
elected Vice-President and on the death of President McKinley 
six months later became President. 10. In 1904 he was 
reelected. 11. After he retired from the presidency he traveled 
in Africa, Europe, and South America. 12. Although nomi¬ 
nated for President in the campaign of 1912, he was defeated 
by Woodrow Wilson, ij. At the beginning of the World 
War, Roosevelt opposed neutrality and advocated prepared¬ 
ness. 14. Although he could take no active part in the war, 
he sent four sons to France, 13. In January, 1919, Roosevelt 
died. 

Study Questions. 1. Describe Roosevelt’s boyhood. 2. 
What influence did his family life have on his character? 3. 
Show how Roosevelt’s character was revealed by the boxing 
bout. 4. What sort of young man was he during his college 
days? 5. What was his first political experience and what 
did he learn from it? 6. What did Roosevelt accomplish as 
head of the Police Board?; as Assistant Secretary of the navy; 
7. Explain his connection with the Rough Riders. 8. Tell 
how Roosevelt came to be President and what he accomplished 
in that office. 9. What was Roosevelt’s political nickname 
and why was it given to him? 10. Relate his activities from 
the time he retired from the presidency up to 1914. 11. Ex¬ 

plain his attitude toward the World War and tell the part he 
played in it. 

Suggested Readings. Roosevelt: Hagedorn, Boys' Life of 
Theodore Roosevelt; Morgan, Theodore Roosevelt, the Boy and 
the Man; Hale, A Week in the White House with Theodore 
Roosevelt; Riis, Theodore Roosevelt , the Citizen. 


3°6 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


THE PANAMA CANAL 

WILLIAM CRAWFORD GORGAS, THE MAN WHO DROVE OUT 

YELLOW FEVER 

215. A young army doctor. William Crawford Gorgas 
was born in the historic city of Mobile, Alabama. He 
was a small boy when the Southern Confederacy was 
formed and Jefferson Davis became its president. He 
saw his father go off to serve in the Confederate army. 
He was filled with pride when that father became General 
Josiah Gorgas. Possibly he would some day be a famous 
general himself. 

In the meantime he went to school and to college. 
Then came a new ambition. He would be a great doctor. 

So he studied medicine. When he was twenty-five he 

♦ 

became a medical officer in the United States Army. 

216. Gorgas studies yellow fever. His work took him 
into the far South. Here he became deeply interested 
in the study of yellow fever. This was a strange and 
terrible disease. It attacked people suddenly. It spread 
rapidly from house to house. Many who had it died. 
Could any one find a way to stop it? No one yet had 
done so. Gorgas made up his mind to do it. 

His chance soon came. He was sent to Havana in 
Cuba. This was one of the homes of yellow fever. 
Could the young army doctor drive it out? How he 
worked to do it! Havana was dirty. Perhaps that was 
the trouble. So he cleaned it as no city ever had been 
cleaned. Houses, yards, streets, sewers — everything was 
cleaned so as to leave no spot for the fever to breed in. 
It was a wonderful work, but the fever did not stop. Was 
he to fail? No, for just then a discovery was made. 


William Crawford G or gas 307 

217* alter Reed finds out what spro&ds yellow fever. 

Somebody had suggested that mosquitoes might have 
something to do with the fever. 

Walter Reed and several other 
young army doctors deter¬ 
mined to find out about it. It 
was a dangerous task. One of 
them, Dr. Lazear, caught the 
fever and died. Others were 
very ill. But they settled the 
question. By careful tests 
they proved that yellow fever 
was not “caught” like the 
measles. It was carried from 
one person to another by a 
certain kind of mosquito. 

That was a great discovery. 

How could yellow fever be stopped? 

218. Gorgas puts an end to yellow fever in Havana. 
Gorgas saw the tests and knew what they meant. Now 
he started to work once more in Havana. This time 
he fought mosquitoes. He drained the pools. He 
oiled the standing water. He put wire screens in the 
windows to shut out the mosquitoes. In three months 
there was no more yellow fever in the great city of 
Havana. 

219. He cleans up Panama. Gorgas had won this 
fight. He was soon to begin another. The United 
States had undertaken to build the Panama Canal. 
The French had tried it and failed. Their engineers 
were skillful and they worked bravely, but the yellow 
fever was too deadly. Hundreds and hundreds of their 



WILLIAM CRAWFORD GORGAS 





308 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

laborers died. Finally in despair they gave up the 
attempt. Could we succeed? That would depend on 
whether we could make the place healthful. Who could 
do it? Why not send the man who had worked wonders 
in Havana? So thought President Roosevelt, and sent 
Gorgas down there to do what he had done in Havana. 
It was a big job and a hard one. There were two cities 
to be cleaned up and a great stretch of land between 
them full of marshes and thick jungles. Some sneered 
at Gorgas and said he could not do it. This only made 
him work harder. He looked over the big task and 
settled down to go through with it. Swamps were 
drained, ditches opened, streams oiled, sewers put in the 
towns, new and pure water works built, hospitals set up, 
houses screened. It was a huge task, and it took time 
to get things going right. But once again Gorgas won 



HOSPITAL AT LABOGA ISLAND, PANAMA 

From Pan-American Union Bulletin 


his fight. The Isthmus of Panama became one of the 
healthiest spots on the globe. The workmen now had a 





























George Washington Goethals 


309 


fair chance, and the United States built the great 
canal. It is one of the most stupendous works of our 
day, and it was made possible by the skill of Gorgas. He 
was now made General Gorgas, and became Surgeon 
General of the United States Army. His dreams had 
all come true. 

GEORGE WASHINGTON GOETHALS, THE MAN WHO BUILT 

THE PANAMA CANAL 

220. The Panama Canal. The great development of 
the Pacific coast region brought demands for fast and 
easy communication with the East. It was this which 
first made Americans realize the value to their country 
of a canal across the Isthmus. Railroads were built 
across the mountains, but transportation was still very 
expensive. The remedy lay in a short route by water 
between the east and the west coasts. People saw that 
a canal across the Isthmus of Panama must be built at 
whatever cost. 

In 1903 the United States obtained a strip of land ten 
miles wide from the new Republic of Panama. Work 
was then begun by our government. 

221. George Washington Goethals. During the prog¬ 
ress of the work there were several changes in the position 
of chief engineer in charge of building the canal. In 
1907 this work was given to George Washington Goethals, 
of the corps of army engineers. Colonel Goethals was 
born in Brooklyn, June 29, 1858. At the age of fifteen 
he entered the College of the City of New York. At 
graduation he stood at the head of his class. He then 
took up the study of engineering at the United States 
Military Academy at West Point. He advanced rapidly, 


310 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

and when twenty-four years of age was appointed first 
lieutenant of army engineers. After teaching at West 

Point for several years he 
was appointed captain of 
engineers. His ability caused 
him to be given charge of the 
Mussel Shoals Canal Con¬ 
struction on the Tennessee 
River. During the Spanish- 
American War he served 
with the volunteers as 
lieutenant-colonel and chief 
of engineers. 

In 1907 came the great 
opportunity of his life. He 
was given charge of building 
the Panama Canal. He faced a gigantic task. Rut the 
government of his country had entrusted it.to him, and 
he determined to do it without losing more lives by fever 
than necessary. For this reason the Canal Zone was 
cleaned up and made a healthful place in which to live. 
Then the work was begun. 

The building of the Canal took about eight years’ 
time, required the services of forty thousand men, and 
cost the United States about four hundred million 
dollars. 

When the Canal was nearly finished, in 1914, a civil 
government was established in the Canal Zone. Presi¬ 
dent Wilson appointed Colonel Goethals the first governor. 
The enormous task which he had done so well showed 
that he was a great manager as well as a great 
engineer. 



GEORGE W. GOETHALS 



Stiggcsttons Intended to Help the Pupil ^ii 

222. Value of the Canal to the Pacific coast. The 

Pacific coast states can now send the valuable products 
of their forests, streams, fields, and mines to the Atlantic 
coast by water. The water route to New York has been 
shortened by 7,800 miles, and to Europe by more than 
5,600 miles. The canal supplies a cheaper means of 
carrying freight than the overland route, and there is no 
limit to its usefulness for this purpose. 

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL 

The Leading Facts. 1. Studies medicine and becomes a 
medical officer in the United States Army. 2. Studies yellow 
fever. 3. Walter Reed finds out what spreads yellow fever. 
4. Gorges puts an end to yellow fever in Havana and the 
Isthmus of Panama. 5. He is made Surgeon General of the 
United States Army. 

6. The great development of the Pacific coast region brought 
home to Americans the urgent necessity for a short route by 
water between the east and the west coasts. 7. The United 
States took up the work of building a canal at Panama. 8. 
George Washington Goethals was given position of chief engi¬ 
neer. 9. Educated at West Point, Goethals served as chief of 
engineers in the Spanish-American War. 10. The Canal was 
completed in 1914 and Goethals was appointed first governor 
of the Canal Zone, a strip of land ten miles wide along the 
course of the Canal. 

Study Questions. 1. What was Gorgas’ambition? 2. What 
disease did he study? 3. What did Walter Reed discover? 
4. Tell about Gorgas’ work in Havana and the Isthmus of 
Panama. 5. How was he rewarded for this work? 

6. What first brought home to Americans the urgent need 
of a canal across the Isthmus? 7. Who was put in charge of 
the work? 8. Where did Goethals study engineering? 9. In 
what war did he serve? 10. When was the Canal completed? 

Suggested Readings. William Crawford Gorgas: Gorgas, 
Sanitation in Panama , 339. 

Goethals: Nida, Panama and Its “Bridge of W ater," 
63-187. 

ll 


312 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

WOODROW WILSON 

WHO BELIEVED IN MAKING THE WORLD SAFE FOR 

DEMOCRACY 

223. Early days. Woodrow Wilson was born in Staun¬ 
ton, Virginia. His father was a Presbyterian preacher with 
Scotch blood in his veins. He taught his son to fear God, 
and to think for himself. 

When Woodrow was still a small boy, the family 
moved to Augusta, Georgia. One day he heard some one 
say, “Lincoln is elected and there will be war. ” The war 
soon came. It was the great War between the States. 
He was still a boy when it ended, but the memory of it 
lived in his heart. Years later he wrote a book about it. 

224. He goes to school and then to college. When 
the war was over, the boy went to the best teachers that 
his father could find. At home his parents helped him. 
They read good books aloud. He liked to listen to them. 
In time he was ready for college. First he entered 
Davidson College in North Carolina. But his health 
failed and he returned home. When he was well again 
he went to Princeton. Here he found men from all parts 
of the country. It was a new life to him. He liked it. 
There were great teachers. There were interesting books. 
There were many things to stir his ambition. 

225. Woodrow Wilson, attorney-at-law. But college 
life was soon over. Young Woodrow now became Mr. 
Wilson, and must make his own living. How should he 
do it ? He was a keen debater. He liked to think things 
out. So he made up his mind to be a lawyer. 

The greatest law school in the South was that of the 
University of Virginia. So Wilson went there. He worked 


Woodrow Wilson 


3i 3 


hard, but did not spend all his time in study. His voice 
often rang out in college songs with happiness and vigor. 

Soon this training, 
too, was over. Where 
should he settle? 

Georgia was the home 
of his boyhood. 

There many of his 
early friends lived. 

Atlanta was a live, 
progressive city. So 
to Atlanta he went. 

In the heart of the 
city he and another young man rented an office and put 
up their sign: “Renick and Wilson, Attorneys-at-Law.” 

226. He changes his business. Clients came slowly. 
Often he had time to sit among his books, studying the 
deep things of the law. Then he found out something, 
not all at once, but little by little. It was this: He did 
not care to be a lawyer as much as to study law. What, 
then, should he do? He was twenty-seven years old. 
Was it too late to change his business? Could he make 
a living as a scholar and a teacher? Could he write 
books ? Something in him said, “ Try it. ” So he took the 
chance. He said good-by to friends in Atlanta and set 
out for the new Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. 
With that group of fine young scholars he would cast his 
lot. He would be a scholar and a writer. 

There he soon made his mark. Men began to talk of 
him as “the brilliant young Wilson.’/ He set to work 
to study our government as no man had ever done. 
How did it really work? He went to Washington to 



BIRTHPLACE OF WOOOROVV WILSON 
AT STAUNTON, VIRGINIA 























314 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

watch Congress. He talked with men. Above all he 
tried to find out for himself how things actually were 
done. Then he put it all in a book which he called 
Congressional Government. It was a, great book and 
made him famous. 

227. President of Princeton University. Wilson taught 
in a number of colleges. At last there came a call from 
old Princeton. His heart beat high as he returned to its 
famous halls. How the scenes of his student days came 
back to his mind! Perhaps that is why he understood 
the young men so well, and why they liked him. 

The time came when Princeton needed a new president. 
Wilson was chosen. Men wondered what changes he 
would make. They soon saw. “In Princeton,” he 
said, “men must learn more.” So he searched all over 
the land for bright young teachers to help the boys with 
their work and to induce them to love it. It was a fine 
idea, and gave to many a young fellow a sort of big 
brother to stir and aid him. 

Next he undertook to bring all kinds of men together 
in their daily life. It was a struggle for democracy. 
But the old habits were dear to the hearts of Princeton 
men, and they would not give them up. This part of 
Wilson’s plan failed, yet the effort was not wholly wasted. 
The country had learned to think of Wilson as a truly 
progressive leader. A new call now came to him. 

228. Governor of New Jersey. The state needed a 
governor. The leaders of the Democratic party turned 
to Wilson. He promised the people he would carry out 
certain reforms if they mads him governor. He was 
elected. Some men tried to keep him from making good 
his promises. They did not know the kind of man he 


Woodrow Wilson 


3i5 



was. He would have no secret meetings with them. 
The reforms must be made. He saw to it that they were 
made. He was the people’s 
governor and he ran the gov¬ 
ernment for their good. 

229. President of the 
United States. People every¬ 
where began to talk about 
Governor Wilson. Here was 
a man who believed in reforms. 

He knew how to get them 
adopted. He had the courage 
to do it, no matter what the 
bosses said. Why not make 
him president of the United 
States and let him do the 
same thing in a bigger way? 

So when the time came to 
choose a candidate in 1912 the Democrats chose Wilson. 
It was a hot campaign, but Wilson won. 

230. New laws to remedy old evils. Wilson had 
again promised reforms if elected. Would he keep his 
word ? Could he do for the nation what he had done in 
the state? 

When Congress met, he made one change at once. 
Since the time of President Adams, all presidents had 
been in the habit of sending written messages to be read 
to Congress. Wilson came himself and spoke to the 
members. He told them what should be done. Some 
did not wish to do what he urged. But again Wilson 
won. Laws that made important reforms were passed 
as he had promised. 


WOODROW WILSON AS A YOUNG MAN 

From a photograph by the Keystone 
View Company 



3 16 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


231. Trouble with Mexico. When Wilson came to the 
White House he found trouble with Mexico waiting for 
him. The president of Mexico had been murdered. 
Huerta, who claimed his place, was supposed to have had 
a hand in the murder. Wilson refused to recognize a 
president whose hands were red with blood. He hoped 
the Mexicans would in time put a good man in his place. 
Meanwhile he said he believed in “watchful waiting.” 
Some people in the United States wanted an army sent 
to Mexico to straighten out things. Some thought we 
ought to take over Mexico and run it. But Wilson 
opposed these plans. To a great crowd in Mobile, 
Alabama, he said boldly that we would never take away 
one foot of another people’s country. 

At length the “watchful waiting” was rewarded. 
Huerta left Mexico. Wilson recognized Carranza, his 
successor. But trouble with Mexico was not yet over. 
A bold Mexican bandit, named Villa, made raids along 
our Texas border. Carranza could not stop him. Wilson 
had to send Pershing with soldiers to chase him far into 
the wild mountains of Mexico. 

232. A great war begins in Europe. Meanwhile (1914) 
the greatest of all wars began in Europe. As time went on 
nearly all the nations of the world were drawn in. 
Germany and Austria were the leaders on one side; 
England, France, and Russia on the other. Could we 
keep out of the war? Wilson hoped that we could. 
He urged everyone to act fairly toward, even to try to 
think fairly of, both sides. 

It was hard to keep from taking sides. The English 
searched our mail and stopped our trading ships. That 
made us angry. But we could not forget the cruelty 


Woodrow Wilson 


3i7 


with which the Germans fought on land and sea. When 
their submarines sank passenger ships with Americans 
on board, a storm of protest arose. 

233. Sinking of the “Lusitania.” On May 7, 1915, the 
great British steamship, “Lusitania, ” was steaming along 
the coast of Ireland in broad daylight. Nearly two 
thousand people were on board. The ship was not armed. 
Not a sign of the enemy was to be seen. Suddenly a 
line of bubbles marked the surface of the sea. Then a 
torpedo exploded under the great ship’s side. At once the 
vessel began to sink. In twenty-one minutes it went 
down. So quickly did it all happen that over a thousand 
men, women, and little children lost their lives. They 
were peaceful people sailing the high seas in a passenger 
ship. They were killed without warning. The sub- 

1 

marine did not stay to rescue them when their own 
vessel went down. Among the lost were over a hundred 
Americans. A wave of anger swept over the country. 

234. Wilson again is chosen president. It was a try¬ 
ing time for Wilson. Some called for war at once with 
Germany. Some cried out that England must not 
interfere with our trade. Europe was being ruined by the 
most terrible war in history. Could we keep out of it? 
Wilson had hoped so and he was not yet ready to give up 
that hope. Many people felt as he did. They had taken 
as their cry: “War in the East. Peace in the West. 
Thank God for Wilson!” 

But if we were to remain neutral there must be no 
more “Lusitania” horrors. It was hard to make 
Germany understand this. At last, with wonderful 
patience, Wilson made her see that to repeat such an act 
would mean war. 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 



In the fall of 1916 came the presidental election. The 
great reforms that Wilson had promised had been made. 
He had patiently kept us out of war with Mexico. With 
still greater patience he had kept us out of war in Europe. 
Some thought he had been too patient, but the American 
people rallied to him. He was again chosen President. 

235. The United States declares war. The hope for 
peace did not last much longer. Germany had sunk 
many ships with Americans on board, and early in 1917 
she sent word that she would begin a still more terrible 
submarine war. She wished to cut off all food from 
England. There would be a “war zone” around the 

British Isles. All vessels, 
even those of neutral 
countries, like the United 
States, if found in that 
region would be sunk. 

On April 2, 1917, the 
President went before 
Congress and stated the 
situation. In the clear¬ 
est possible words he 
summed up the acts of 
Germany that made 
peace no longer possible. 
There was no bitterness 
in his speech. It was 
simple, clear, and convinc¬ 
ing. He asked Congress 
to declare that what 
Germany was doing was actually war against us. 
Congress did so. On April 6, 1917, it formally declared 


WOODROW WILSON AT SHADOW LAWN 
IN THE SUMMER OF IQI3 

From a photogra ph by the Keystone 
View Company 














Woodrow Wilson 3^ 

that a state of war existed between the United States 
and Germany. 

April 6 was a great day in America. The enthusiasm 
of the people knew no bounds. Flags and banners were 
flung to the breeze. Soon recruiting officers were seen 
in every town and city in America. The boys were 
marching away to the training camps, and our regular 
soldiers and the National Guards were being prepared 
for service in France. 

236. The Germans are whipped. Germany sneered 
at us because she thought our people were so devoted 
to dollars that we would not fight. But by the close of 
1Q17 she began to change her mind. She saw that we 
were in earnest, and she planned to strike hard before 
we could help. If we did not hurry she would win. 
General Pershing was sent with some troops at once. 
How the French cheered when they saw them come! 
As fast as we could we sent more men — thousands 
and thousands of them. 

These soldiers, half trained and green, according to 
Germany’s way of thinking, went into battle. They 
helped to check the victorious Germans at the Marne, at 
St. Mihiel, and in Argonne Forest. No German “shock” 
troops, the best in the world, could stand before these 
boys fresh from America. The French, midway, and the 
British in the north were striking smashing blows. These 
forces soon had the Germans reeling toward the Rhine. 

237. The armistice is signed. In November, 1918, 
Germany asked for terms of peace. On November 11, 
General Foch, the commander of the Allied forces, met 
them and they signed the armistice. Great was the 
rejoicing in all the Allied countries. 


320 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

In the meantime, President Wilson had said again 
and again that we were not fighting for any selfish 
advantage, but were trying to make the world “safe for 
democracy.” 

He had pointed out fourteen things that ought to be 
done when peace was made. These “Fourteen Points” 
became famous. 

The nations that had won the victory now planned to 
meet in Paris to make a treaty of peace. The American 
people could hardly believe the news when told that 
President Wilson would himself go to Europe to help 
make the treaty of peace. 

It was a great sight to see the President and his 
company go on board the steamship “George Washing¬ 
ton,” December 4, 1918. A noisy “send-off” was given 
them by the people. Airplanes circled over the ship on 
its way out to sea. The great battleship “Pennsylvania” 
and a number of destroyers guarded the President’s 
ship to Brest, the landing place of so many thousand 
of American boys. Here he was greeted by the mayor 
as “the messenger of justice and peace.” 

238. President Wilson welcomed by the Allies. 
President Wilson hastened to Paris. The people 
cheered him eagerly. The president of the French 
Republic showed him great honor, and told him how 
thankful the people of France were for what our boys 
had done. 

Later he went to England. Here he was given a 
great banquet by the king and queen in Buckingham 
Palace. The king made a fine address. He declared 
that the two nations had been brothers in arms and that 
their arms had been crowned with victory. President 


Woodrow Wilson 


321 


Wilson, deeply touched by the king’s speech, made one of 
his happiest replies. 

The President spoke in 
many places in England. 

The people lined the streets 
and crowded about him 
when he spoke. 

A little later Wilson was 
in Rome, Italy. He had a 
wonderful time in that 
ancient city so filled with 
memories of a mighty past. 

The king of Italy enter¬ 
tained him in the royal 
palace. Wilson spoke to 
thousands of Italians who 
had bravely borne their 
part in the great struggle, 
now just ended. The city 
of Genoa, on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, was 
the birthplace of Columbus. Of course President Wilson 
went to Genoa and visited the monument dedicated to 
Columbus. He was greeted by thousands upon thou¬ 
sands of enthusiastic Italians wherever he went. 

239. Wilson at the Peace Conference. President 
Wilson hastened back to Paris, where the Peace Con¬ 
ference opened. The president of France welcomed the 
great men who had been sent there by fourteen different 
nations. 

On January 25, the President spoke before the Peace 
Conference on the League of Nations. He spoke most 
eloquently, because the League of Nations was a new 



WOODROW WILSON AS PRESIDENT 

From a photograph by the Keystone 
View Company 


3 22 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


thing in the world and he believed in it with all his 
heart. A few days later he told the French Chamber of 
Deputies that he had come to the peace table for the 
special purpose of helping to establish the League of 
Nations. This was to be different from those secret 
promises of the past by which two or three nations 
agreed to help each other. This was an agreement in 
which in time all the leading nations of the world were 
to join. Its purpose was to keep peace among the 
nations of the world. 

240. The League the heart of the treaty. The men 

who made the peace treaty worked through the spring 
and into the summer. They had many hard problems. 
They gave France her two states, Alsace and Lorraine, 
which Germany had taken in the war of 1870-71. They 
divided Austria into separate states, giving to each kind 
of people its own government. They set up new nations, 
and changed many boundary lines of old ones. They 
also decided that Germany should pay Belgium and 
France for the destruction of property in those countries. 
But the heart of all these arrangements was the League 
of Nations. 

241. The League and the Senate. Before a treaty can 
be binding it must be approved by a two-thirds vote of 
our Senate. At first it seemed that the Senate would 
accept the peace treaty, possibly after making some 
changes in it. But soon the situation became more 
uncertain. 

We had risen to great heights of enthusiasm during the 
war. Lives and money had been given freely to save the 
world from a great danger. But the fighting was now 
over and the excitement was passing away. Men wanted 


Woodrow Wilson 


323 


to put their minds back on their usual work. They 
cared less about Europe and more about their own 
business. 

Some objected to special parts of the League. They 
thought it might bring us into war against our will. 
Others opposed it for political reasons; still others, because 
they disliked President Wilson. 

It was a hard fight. If more than a third of the Senate 
opposed the treaty, it could not be passed and the 
League of Nations could not be established. 

President Wilson’s heart was set on the League. To 
him it seemed the one thing that could save the world 
from future wars. He thought also it was the only way 
to heal the hatred that the war had left. He wanted it in 
order to prevent war. He wanted it in order to enjoy 
peace. 

President Wilson was already weary from the long 
strain. But summoning all his strength, he set forth to 
speak in many cities in favor of the League. It was a 
great and earnest appeal to the people. Out through 
the Middle West he went. Then down the Pacific 
Coast. Crowds went to hear him. Some approved, 
some hesitated. All America waited to see the final 
result of his appeal. 

Suddenly his strength broke down. All his other 
speaking plans had to be given up. His train sped back 
to Washington. Thenceforward the fates of treaty and 
League must lie in other hands. On November 19, 1919, 
the Senate laid the treaty aside. Enough other nations 
have adopted the League to start it working. What its 
fate will be, and whether we shall yet join it, only the 
future can tell. 


324 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL 

The Leading Facts. 1. Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born 
in Staunton, Virginia. 2. He studied at Davidson College, 
at Princeton University, and at Johns Hopkins University. 
3. He practiced law in Atlanta for a short time. 4. He taught 
at different colleges and finally at Princeton University. 5. 
Later he was made president of Princeton and in that office 
worked for reform. 6. He was elected governor of New Jersey. 
7. In 1912 he was elected President of the United States. 8. As 
President among many other important things he refused to 
recognize Huerta, p. In 1916 he was reelected to office. 10. In 
April, 1917, he asked Congress to declare war on Germany. 
11. Early in 1918 he laid down the famous “fourteen points” 
as the foundation for peace. 12. In December, 1918, he went 
to Europe to attend the Peace Conference. 13. Returning 
home, he made a speaking tour in behalf of the League, but 
was interrupted by illness. 14. The United States Senate 
failed to pass the Versailles treaty. 

Study Questions. 1. Think of all the reasons you can why 
Wilson should be called a breaker of customs. 2. Describe 
his boyhood and school days. 3. Tell about his career as a 
teacher. 4. What was the significance of his election to the 
office of governor of New Jersey and what was his policy 
in that office? 5. Describe the presidential campaign of 1912. 

6. Discuss the big reform measures of his first term of office. 

7. What was the significance of his election to a second term? 

8. Discuss the events leading up to his declaration of war on 
Germany and the events which followed, p. Tell about 
Wilson’s activities in Europe. 10. Tell the story of his efforts 
to get the League adopted. 11. What action did the Senate 
take in regard to the League? 

Suggested Readings. Wilson: Hale, Woodrow Wilson — 
The Story of His Life; Parkman, Fighters for Peace , 285-311. 


1 


John J. Pershing 


325 


JOHN J., PERSHING 

COMMANDER OF THE AMERICAN ARMY IN FRANCE 

242. A hardy boy. John J. Pershing was born in 
Missouri in i860. His parents were sturdy Americans 
who made their own way. Young John was a vigorous 
boy. He played at mimic war and attended school. 
He got into fights with his fellows, but he was square. 
One day his father saw the signs of battle in torn clothes 
and a bruised face. “Been fighting? Never let any 
boy say that he has licked you, ” was the father’s remark. 
John had expected a whipping. 

Every Sunday his father took the children to Sunday 
school. Young Pershing never forgot the heroes of 
the Old Testament. 

At day school he was a 
plodder. But he did win a 
prize, a well-bound volume 
of the life of Washington. 

This was offered by the 
president of the school board. 

John’s mother was there. 

The children clapped and 
called for a speech. “I’m 
sorry you didn’t all win a 
prize. I’m going to grow up 
like Washington,” he said. 

He took a course in the 
Kirksville Normal School and 
graduated in June, 1880. He 
taught a “hard” school at Prairie Mound in the fall and 
winter. John was only twenty. He thrashed the big 



JOHN J. PERSHING 
From a Photograph by Clinedinst 



















326 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

boy, the “ringleader.” The boy’s father came the next 
day, breathing vengeance. Pershing thrashed the father. 
When he went inside, some one had written on the 
blackboard: “Teacher is boss here.” He had no more 
trouble in that school. 

243. He goes to West Point. In midsummer (1881) 
John took the examinations for West Point and won 
over his friend Higgenbotham by one point. His mother 
was there to witness John’s triumph and to see him 
shake hands with his friend and hear him say: “I’m 
sorry that you could not win, too!” This was a fine 
spirit. 

At the end of the first year at West Point he was made 
class leader, a position won only by hard study. When 
he reached his senior year, the West Point authorities 
made him cadet captain. His name stood high on the 
list of graduates, and he had won the position of lieuten¬ 
ant in the cavalry. He was happy when ordered to 
join General Miles, fighting the Indians in Arizona. 

244. Honors come fast. Soon he was called back to 
West Point. This time he was a teacher. Then came 
our war with Spain, and he fought bravely in Cuba. 
Next he was needed in the Philippine Islands to subdue 
the fierce Moros. When Japan and Russia were at 
war with each other he was sent to Japan to study their 
ways of fighting. 

245. A great sorrow comes to him. The Mexicans on 
our border were giving trouble. Pershing was sent to 
keep order there. He had left Mrs. Pershing and the 
children at the Presidio, near San Francisco. Then 
after looking over his command, he reported: “I am 
ready to take the field on five minutes’ notice.” 


John J. Pershing 


327 


At Fort Bliss, near El Paso, he was stunned by a dis¬ 
patch. It read: “Wife and children suffocated in fire 
at Presidio. Warren in serious condition.” It could not 
be! In ten days his wife had planned to be with him in 
a new home in Fort Bliss. 

246. Chases Villa into the mountains. With a heavy 
heart Pershing turned to the hunt for Villa, the bandit 
chief of Mexico. Villa was strong enough to defy the 
Mexican government. He made raids along our border. 
If we were to have peace he must be taught a lesson. 
Pershing’, who had whipped the wild Moros, was the 
man to do it. After 
several brushes with 
Mexican soldiers, Villa 
and his forces were 
scattered. The wily 
old fox escaped to 
the mountain fast¬ 
nesses where he could 
not be found. Quiet 
was established in 
Mexico for a time. 

247. Pershing is 
welcomed by English 
and French. In 1916 
Pershing was made a 
major-general. The 
great war in Europe 
was now raging. In 
April, 1917, the United 
States entered it. General Pershing was soon sent 
abroad with a few officers and soldiers to show that we 


FOLLOW THE PIED PIPER 

Join the United States 
School Garden Army 



A WAR GARDEN POSTER 

In the “Food Will Win the War," campaign posters 
urged all school children to make gardens 








328 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

were in earnest. Other troops would follow as fast as 
we could get them ready. When the general reached 

England he has¬ 
tened to London, 
where he was pre- 
sented to the 
king. The king 
took his hand, 
saying: “It has 
been the dream of 
my life to see 
the two great 
English - speaking 
nations more 
closely united. My dream has been realized.” 

Then Pershing crossed over to France. Here he saw 
French enthusiasm. He marched between lines of war- 
scarred veterans fresh from the trenches. The news 
spread quickly: “The Americans have come!” New 
life and fresh resolution came into the hearts of these 
war-tired heroes. Storms of cheers greeted Pershing. 
The French were cheering America. 

From Boulogne to Paris every station had huge enthu¬ 
siastic crowds. In Paris there had been no such 
display of feeling since the war began. Every hill and 
housetop, wall and window was filled with cheering men 
and women. Near the station, ranks of soldiers lined 
the streets for blocks. Tens of thousands were shouting, 
“Long live America!” 

Just as young Lafayette, in the dark days of the 
Revolution, brought hope to America, so Pershing took 
new hope to France. 



CARRIER PIGEONS. A MEANS OF COMMUNICATION 
AT THE FRONT 















John J. Pershing 


329 


The Fourth of July, 1917, was a great day in France. 
All France united in its celebration. In Paris American 
soldiers were ready to go to the front. Great was the 
enthusiasm when Marshal Joff re and General Pershing 
passed along the lines inspecting the soldiers. The 
American band struck up the French war song, the 
“Marseillaise,” and the French band, the “Star-Spangled 
Banner.’’ The cheering of the crowds was deafening. 

248. American soldiers save the day. The American 
soldiers now took over one hundred miles of the front, 
relieving tired Frenchmen. On March 21, the Germans 
began their long-expected drive. Russia was out of the 
war, and Germany was rushing soldiers by the hundred 
thousands to reenforce her western front and get ready 
for the drive on Paris. 

The Germans struck at the weakest point. They 
found this where the French and English armies joined. 
They drove forward in great masses. Thousands upon 
thousands were mowed down by the English and French 
guns, but on they came. Back, back the Allies fell, day 
after day, until the Germans reached the Marne again. 
The world held its breath. Each day it was thought 
the Germans would break through, but each day the 
Allied troops retreated slowly, fighting like demons and 
always holding their lines unbroken at vital points. 

Would the Allies make a counter-drive? They had 
few reserves, far too few to make an attack. The cry 
for help arose. America responded nobly. Soldiers were 
hurried from training camps to the seaports. Every 
possible ship was used to carry them across the seas. 
The Allies sent all the ships they could spare. American 
soldiers began to arrive in great numbers. In May, 


330 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


Pershing had more than one million men, and over one 
million more soon would be in France. It was a gigantic 
task to put two million men in France and keep them up 
to the fighting point. 

Pershing now took command of the region between the 
Aisne and the Marne. The Germans thought the 
Americans untrained, and expected to break through by 
hurling their best “shock” troops against them. 

In July, the Germans struck a terrific blow at Chateau- 
Thierry. General Pershing was there to watch his brave 
men. Without waiting for artillery, Pershing struck, 
and in six hours he had captured as much ground as the 
Germans had taken in six days. The Americans were 
advancing with great rapidity. The Germans did not 




SUBMARINE PURSUED BY AIRPLANE 


have time to remove their supplies. They were dumb¬ 
founded. 





































John J. Pershing 


i 


33* 

General Foch had received the title of Marshal and 
had been made commander of all the armies fighting 
against Germany. This gave unity to the Allied forces. 
Now the French struck, followed by the sledge-hammer 
blows of the English. 

The French people were happy. They wanted to show 
what they thought of Pershing’s work. He was called to 
the great military headquarters. The president of France 
was there. He pinned upon Pershing the Grand Cross of 
the Legion of Honor. 

Now Pershing got ready for St. Mihiel. He drew out 
from the French and English ranks those Americans he 
had sent to learn war from these veterans. St. Mihiel 
was important. It threatened the famous battlefield of 
Verdun and protected the German fortified city of Metz. 

249. Germans cry “Kamerad.” September 12 the 
Americans burst forth in a rain of shot and shell such as 
the Germans never before had witnessed. The fierce 
battle raged for four hours. The Americans, yelling like 
demons, then charged across the river. The German 
soldiers had been taught to despise these “green American 
troops.” But these same Germans now cried ‘ ‘ Kamerad 
in dead earnest. Five miles of ground were gained 
before these “green” Americans halted. 

September 13 was Pershing’s birthday. He wanted to 
do a full day’s work in its honor, so his artillery opened at 
1130 in the morning. Before the day was done, he had 
taken from the Germans more than one hundred and 
fifty square miles of territory. The French people—old 
men, women, and children—crowded around Pershing’s 
car. With tears in their eyes the women of France 
kissed the hand of their deliverer. 




332 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


Both the French and the English were busy. The 
French were driving at the center of the great line stretch¬ 
ing from the North Sea to Switzerland. The English were 
driving the Germans out of the Belgian cities and towns. 

Many other battles were fought by the Americans, 

but perhaps the most decisive one was in the Argonne 

\ 

Forest. This was a half-mountainous, woody country, 
much of which was covered with underbrush. The 
Germans had fortified it strongly. Besides their great 
cannon, they had filled the Argonne with nests of machine 
guns, placing them behind trees, stumps, and rocks, and 
in gullies, wherever they could find protection for the 
gunners. Here, too, they had their best fighting men. 

The battle started September 26. This was the most 
bloody fighting of the war. Companies and regiments 
were cut off and lost for a time. The Germans were 
determined to hold the forest, and the Americans as deter¬ 
mined to win it. Gradually the Germans were forced 
back. Thousands were captured; thousands more were 
killed. They could not stem the American tide. After 
many days of hard fighting in which the Americans proved 
themselves more than equal to the best shock troops 
of the Germans, victory lighted on our banners. 

The storm was just breaking loose on Germany. The 
combined navy of the Allies was choking out her life 
in spite of the submarines. The English in Asia were 
capturing the strongholds of the Turks, and the Italians 
now were gaining against the Austrians. Calamities 
came fast. Bulgaria, an ally of Germany, surrendered. 
Turkey followed. The hungry people of Germany began 
to plot revolution against their rulers, and her armies 
were retreating toward the Rhine. 


John J. Pershing 


333 


The German ruler, called the Kaiser, gave up his 
throne and fled to Holland. His generals agreed to an 
armistice Novem¬ 
ber ii, 1918, by 
which they gave 
up much war ma¬ 
terial and crossing 
the Rhine, moved 
back many miles 
into their own 

, the tank, a new weapon in the war 

land. 

250. Follows retreating Germans. In these events 
Pershing took an active part. His army followed the 
Germans to Coblenz on the Rhine, opposite one of the 
most strongly fortified places in the world. Here our men 
stayed while the German army gradually melted away. 

While waiting for Germany to carry out her agree¬ 
ment to surrender and to make terms of peace, Pershing 
helped the Y. M. C. A. and other organizations to begin 
the splendid work of putting his famous fighters in school. 
Hundreds of men from American schools and colleges 
went to France to help in the great work. 

Pershing was busy, but had to stop for congratulations 
and for new marks of honor. He, together with a few 
great Frenchmen, was summoned to England. Oxford, 
the most ancient university of the English-speaking race, 
gave him the highest degree granted by that venerable 
seat of learning, the degree of Doctor of Laws. 

The greatest city of the world, London, presented 
General Pershing with a jeweled sword. His own country 
showed its appreciation of his services by making him 
“General of the Armies of the United States. ” 



334 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL 

The Leading Facts, i. John Joseph Pershing was born in 
Laclede, Missouri. 2. He went to Kirksville Normal School 
and after graduating taught at Prairie Mound, j. In 1881 he 
passed the examinations for West Point. 4. When he graduated 
from West Point he won the position of lieutenant in the cavalry. 

5. He was at once sent to Arizona under General Miles to 
fight the Indians. 6. He was called back to West Point as 
tactical officer. 7. During the Spanish-American War he did 
good work in Cuba. 8 . He was sent to the Philippines and 
there was successful in conquering the Moros. g. In 1905 
he was sent to Japan. 10. In 1916 Pershing scattered 
Villa’s forces in Mexico. 11. In the same year he was made 
a major general. 12. In May, 1917, he left for Europe to 
command the American Expeditionary Forces in the World 
War. ij. Early in 1918 Pershing and his American soldiers 
took over one hundred miles of the front. 14. In July, 1918, 
he was victorious at Chateau-Thierry. ij. In September, 
1918, he carried on a successful offensive against the Germans, 
invading Germany. 16. After the armistice was signed 
Pershing led the American forces in the occupation of Germany. 

Study Questions. 1. Describe Pershing as a boy in school 
and at play. 2. Tell about Pershing the school teacher; the 
student at West Point, 3. What were his military activities 
from the time he left West Point up to the end of the Spanish- 
American War? 4. What did he accomplish in the Philippines? 

5. Tell about Pershing in the campaign against Mexico. 

6. In, the World War how was he welcomed in England? 

7. Describe his reception in France. 8. Tell what you know 

about the active service of Pershing and his men on the front. 
g. Describe Pershing’s military successes in the autumn of 
1918. 10. Discuss his activities after the signing of the 

armistice, n. Enumerate the foreign honors conferred upon 
Pershing. 

Suggested Readings. Pershing: Durston, Boys' Life of 
Pershing; Farrell, Incidents in the Life of General John J. 
Pershing; Tomlinson, Story of General Pershing; Tomlinson, 
Scouting with General Pershing. 


Thomas A. Edison 


335 


EDISON, MARCONI, AND THE WRIGHT 
BROTHERS: MEN WHO MADE NEW 

IDEAS WORK 

THOMAS A. EDISON, THE GREATEST INVENTOR OF 
ELECTRICAL MACHINERY IN THE WORLD 

251. The wizard of the electrical world. Thomas A. 
Edison was born in 1847 at Milan, Ohio. His father's 
people were Dutch and his mother’s were Scotch. When 
he was seven years of age, his parents removed to Port 
Huron, Michigan. 

Edison owed his early training to his mother’s care. 
At the age of twelve he was reading learned books that 
few boys could understand. That Edison was a great 
reader is proved by his resolution to read all the books in 
the Detroit Free 
Library! He did 



finish ‘ ‘fifteen 
feet of volumes” 
before any one 
knew what he 
was doing. 


In 186 2 General 
Grant fought the 
terrible battle of 
Pittsburg Land¬ 
ing. Everybody 
wanted to hear 
the news. Edison 
bought a thou¬ 
sand newspapers, 


boarded a train, and the engineer allowed him a few 
minutes at each station to sell papers. 





336 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 



As the first station came in sight, Edison looked ahead 
and saw a wild crowd of men. He grabbed an armful of 

papers, rushed out, and 
sold forty before the train 
left. At the next station 
the platform was crowded 
with a yelling mob. He 
raised the price to ten 
cents, but sold one hun¬ 
dred and fifty papers. 

Finally he reached Port 
Huron. The station was a 
mile from town. Edison 
seized his papers. He met 
the crowd coming just as 
he reached a church where 
a prayer meeting was being 
held. The prayer meeting 
broke up, and though he raised his price to twenty-five 
cents, he “took in a young fortune.” 

Edison began very early to make experiments in 
electricity. After rigging up a line at home, hitching the 
wire to the legs of a cat, and rubbing the cat’s back 
vigorously, he saw the failure of his first experiment — 
the cat would not stand! 

At Mt. Clemens, one day, young Edison saw a child 
playing on the railroad with its back to an on-coming 
freight car. He dashed at the child and both tumbled 
over on the roadside. As a reward for this act of bravery 
the telegraph operator gave him lessons in telegraphy. 

252. Begins to study electricity. He studied ten days, 
then disappeared. He returned with a complete set of 


THOMAS ALVA EDISON 
After a photograph from life 




Thomas A. Edison 


337 


telegraphic instruments made by his own hand. Now he 
began a period of wandering as a telegraph operator. 
For many boys still in their teens this would have been a 
time of danger, but Edison neither drank nor smoked. 
He wandered from Adrian to Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, 
Cincinnati, Memphis, and Boston, stopping for shorter or 
longer periods at each place. 

By the time he was twenty-two he had partly finished 
the invention by means of which two dispatches can be 
sent along the same wire at the same time. This was 
equal to doubling the number or wires in use. 

He went from Boston to New York. The speculators 
in Wall Street were wild with excitement, for the electric 
machinery had broken down. Nobody could make it 
work. Edison pushed his way to the front and at once 
removed the difficulty. 

All were loud in their praise of Edison. The next day 
he was engaged at three hundred dollars per month to 
take charge of all the electric machinery. 

After a time he joined a company and gave his time to 
working out inventions. The company finally sent a 
number of men to ask Edison 



how much he would take for 
his inventions. He had 
already decided to say five 
thousand. But when the men 
came he said that he did not 
know. He was dumbfounded 
when they offered him forty 
thousand dollars! 


THE PHONOGRAPH 


253. Edison’s inventions. In 1873, Edison established 
his first laboratory or workshop in Newark, New Jersey. 









338 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


i 


Here he gathered more than three hundred men to turn 
out the inventions in electricity which his busy brain 
suggested. They were all as enthusiastic as Edison 
himself. No fixed hours of labor in this shop! When 
the day’s work was done the men often begged to be 
allowed to return to the shop to complete their work. 

Many telegraph and telephone improvements were 
invented in this laboratory. In all there were forty-five 
inventions. They brought in so much money that 
Edison decided he must have a better place to work. 
He built at Menlo Park, New Jersey, twenty-four miles 
from New York City, the finest laboratory in the world 
at that time. On instruments alone he spent $100,000. 
In the great laboratory at Menlo Park Edison gathered 
one of the finest scientific libraries that money could buy. 
This library was for the men in the factory. 

The microphone is one of Edison’s inventions. Its 
purpose is to increase sound sent over the wire. The pass¬ 
ing of a delicate earners-hair brush is magnified to seem 
like the roar of a mighty wind in a forest of giant pines. 

Next came the megaphone, an instrument to bring far¬ 
away sounds to one’s hearing. Persons talking a long 
distance apart are able to hear each other with ease. 

The most interesting and one of the most profitable of 
Edison’s discoveries is the phonograph, which simply 
records sounds just as they are. The human voice is repro¬ 
duced in conversation, public speaking, and singing. The 
music of the finest orchestras can be accurately rendered. 

From the phonograph to the electric light is a long step. 
Edison does not claim to be the discoverer of the electric 
light, but he did much to make it useful to people in 
lighting their houses and in lighting great cities. 


Thomas A. Edison 


339 


In Menlo Park, in the winter of 1880, Edison gave 
the public an exhibition of his electric lights. Visitors 
came from all parts of the country to see this wonderful 
show. Seven hundred lights were put up in the streets, 
in the grounds, and inside the buildings. 

Edison received five gold medals and a diploma from 
the Electrical Exposition held in Paris, France. At the 
English Electrical Exposition held the next year at the 



EDISON’S GREAT WORKSHOP AT ORANGE, NEW JERSEY 


Crystal Palace, London, both papers and people were 
loud in their praise of Edison’s inventions. 

In Munich, Germany, in 1882, and in Vienna, Austria, 
his exhibitions of the wonders of electric lighting won the 
highest praise. 

The laboratories at Menlo Park were now far too 
small for the business that this man of genius set in 
motion. In 1S86, at Orange, New Jersey, Edison built 
the greatest of all his laboratories. Nothing was spared 
to make this new workshop complete. 

254. A great new industry. Edison also had a part 
in another invention for which Americans can claim most 
of the credit — moving pictures. 

A dispute about horse-racing did most for the discovery 
of moving pictures. The question was whether a horse 























340 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

ever had all four feet off the ground at once. To settle 
it, Edward Muybridge, an employee of the government, 
was called in. He stretched cords, fastened to the shut¬ 
ters of a row of cameras, across a racetrack. As the horse 
ran past, it took its own pictures. Later Muybridge 
•made a camera which would take pictures very quickly, 
but he could not show his pictures well. 

Edison in 1892 invented a camera which used long strips 
of celluloid film. These pictures were looked at through 
a slot by one person at a time. 

In 1894 C. Francis Jenkins, another employee of the 
government invented the first complete moving picture 
machine. 

At first people were slow to welcome the new kind of 
play. Now it is claimed that our fifth largest industry 
is moving pictures. Probably as many tickets are sold 
here in America each year as there are people in the 
world. 

MARCONI, THE INVENTOR OF WIRELESS TELEGRAPHY 

255. Marconi and the radio. People thought that the 
cable and the telephone were wonderful inventions, but 
an Italian named Marconi has made a still more wonder¬ 
ful discovery. He found he could send out and receive 
electric waves without the aid of a wire. Early in 1902, 
he was able to receive messages at a distance of more 
than two thousand miles. On December 21, 1902, 
the first official messages were sent across the Atlantic 
Ocean. 

Since then, wireless telegraphy has been so improved 
that messages can be sent to all parts of the world. 
Great sending stations flash across the oceans news about 


Marconi , the Inventor of Wireless Telegraphy ] 341 

politics and business. We know what is happening 

among distant nations as soon as we know what is occur¬ 
ring in our own city. 

The radiotelegraph has saved many lives at sea because 
vessels in distress are able to call the nearest ships to 
their help. 

From the radiotelegraph has come the radiotelephone, 
which transmits the voice for long distances without 
wires. 

On Armistice Day, November 11, 1921, President 
Harding delivered an address at Arlington Cemetery, 
Washington, before a receiving machine connected with 
a high-power transmitting circuit. This address was 



CENTRAL RADIO BUREAU, PARIS, FRANCE. MAIN SENDING AND RECEIVING ROOM, 

THE MOST POWERFUL IN THE WORLD 

From a photograph by Ewing Galloway 


heard through the radiotelephone by people in large 
cities hundreds of miles away. 

















































342 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


Today there are many transmitting stations which 
send out—or broadcast, as it is called—news items, 
music, weather reports, sermons, market reports, and 
lectures. A person may sit in his home and listen to a 
concert or lecture in a city thousands of miles away. All 
that he needs is a simple receiving outfit to catch the 
sound waves which are sent out from the transmitting 
station. 

The radiotelephone is so new an invention that it is 
difficult to know all the uses to which it may be put 
in the future. 

THE WRIGHT BROTHERS AND THEIR FLYING MACHINES 

256. The Wright brothers. Wilbur Wright was one 
of two brothers who had long been at work trying to 
make a flying machine. He was born in 1867 and his 
brother Orville in 1871. Their father was a bishop who.se 
excellent library took the place of a university education 
for his boys. Wilbur and Orville studied especially 

works on 
physics, 
mathematics, 
and engineer¬ 
ing. They 
earned their 
living by mak¬ 
ing and repair¬ 
ing bicycles, 
but they spent 

A DIRIGIBLE BALLOON , . . 

much time 

trying different kinds of “gliders.” They also studied 
the action of the atmosphere. 









Wilbur and Orville Wright 


343 




Before Wilbur Wright’s success in 1903 progress of 
various kinds had been made. Fairly long flights with 
gliders had been made in differ¬ 
ent countries. Two Ameri¬ 
cans, Langley and Hiram 
Maxim, had worked out models 
driven by steam. Langley’s 
had flown half a mile over the 
Potomac, and Maxim’s, though 
not allowed to fly freely, was 
strong enough to carry a man. 

The Wright brothers were 
wise in employing a gasoline 
motor. A steam engine, with orville wright 

its large boilers, was of course much heavier. They had 
a rudder in the tail of their machine, but they also 
invented a new method of steering. By “warping” or 

bending the planes, a mono¬ 
plane, with its one set of 
wings, could keep its balance 
as well as a biplane, which 
had two. 

After Wilbur Wright’s 
first flight in 1903 several 
Frenchmen made successful 
flights.* But in 1908 Wilbur 
Wright went to France and 
broke the records of all the 
French flyers by the 
wilbur wright unheard-of act of remaining 

in the air for more than two hours. Later he flew twice 


across the English Channel. 


12 



344 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


Now the airplane can do all kinds of tricks. Aviators 
“loop the loop” dozens of times. They can rise verti¬ 
cally from the 
ground and for 
a brief period 
remain motionless 
in the air. They 
can move at will 
through the air 
in any direction. 
They can ascend 
over forty thou¬ 
sand feet and can 
All this has been 
accomplished since Orville Wright, in 1907, made the 
first record flight of an hour. Flying improved rapidly 
during the World War. Airplanes were used to spy out 
the enemy’s defenses, to direct gunfire, to drop bombs on 
cities, to shoot down soldiers, and to hunt submarines. 
The daring and 

brilliant fighting v"* ^ 

of airmen in the 
World War makes 
a story more 
breathless than 
that of any novel. 

Incidents like land¬ 
ing with burning 
planes or with 

. . A HYDROPLANE 

planes partly 

stripped of their canvas were not uncommon for these 
fighters of the air. 




A MONOPLANE 

From a photograph of a Bleriot Monoplane in 
"Flying,” New York 


fly at the rate of four miles a minute- 













345 


, Suggestions Intended to Help the Pupil 

One type of airplane was used for fighting and another 
heavier type for bombing. Air bombing is now so 
accurate that in the future it may be useless to build 
large battleships. 

257. Peace-time uses of the airplane. During times 
of peace airplanes are useful in exploring and for carrying 
passengers and light freight. Airplanes only a little more 
expensive than the earlier automobiles can now be bought. 

Airplanes in this country are used chiefly for carrying 
mail. “The mail must fly” is the slogan of the mailmen 
of the air, and in storm or fog — even in the face of 
tornadoes — it has gone. 

In May, 1919, a hydroplane belonging to the United 
States navy made the first trip across the ocean. A hydro¬ 
plane is an airplane having a boat-like body so that 
it is able to alight on or rise from the water. 

In July a British dirigible flew across with its crew. A 
few weeks earlier a British plane flew from continent to 
continent in less than sixteen hours. It took Columbus 
seventy days to make his crossing. 

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL 

The Leading Facts. 1. Edison was a great reader at twelve 
and a newsboy at fifteen. 2. He learned telegraphy, and 
made a set of telegraphic instruments of his own. 3. Edison 
saved the day in Wall Street; made a reputation and plenty of 
money. 4. He built several laboratories in New Jersey and 
has worked out many great inventions. 

5. Marconi discovered that electric waves can be sent t 
and received without a wire. 6. The radiotelegraph has been 
valuable in flashing news to distant places, and in locating 
ships in distress. 7. The radiotelephone allows the human 
voice to be heard across enormous distances. 

8. Wilber and Orville Wright were mechanics, but spent 
much time working on a flying machine. 9. Langley and 


346 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

Maxim had already invented gliders driven by steam, io. The 
Wright brothers invented a machine employing a gasoline 
motor, ii. Airplanes have been greatly improved since 1907. 
12. Various types of airplanes were used in many ways during 
the World War. 

Study Questions. 1. Prove that Edison was a great reader. 
2. Tell the story of his thousand newspapers. 3. Plow did 
his experiment with the cat .succeed? 4. What was the cause 
and what was the effect of his first lessons in telegraphy? 
5. Give some reasons why Edison did not fall into bad habits 
as a ‘‘tramp operator.” 6. What was his first great invention? 
7. What did Edison find in Wall Street, New York? 8. How 
much did Edison think of asking for his inventions? How 
much did the men offer him? g. Tell the story of the work 
in Edison’s shop at Newark, New Jersey. 10. Why did he 
build a library at Menlo Park? 11. Make a list of his great 
inventions. 

12. What did Marconi discover? 13. Tell of the develop¬ 
ment of wireless telegraphy. 14. Describe the uses to which 
the radiotelegraph may be put. 13. What is the radio¬ 
telephone ? 

16. Tell of the Wright brothers’ early life. 17. What kind 
of an engine did they use in their flying machine? 18. What 
inventors had already used a steam engine? ig. How long 
did Wilbur Wright remain in the air in his flight in 1908? 
20. What can an aviator do now? 21. How were airplanes 
used during the World War? 

Suggested Readings. Edison : Mowry, American Inventions 
and Inventors, 85-89; Dickson, Life and Inventions of Edison, 
4-153, 280-338. 

Marconi: Maclaurin, The Mechanic Arts , 286-297; 

Thomson, The Outline of Science , 824-827. 

Wilbur and Orville Wright: Wade, The Light Bringers , 
112-141; Delacombe, The Boys' Book of Airships; Simonds, 
All about Airships; Holland, Historic Inventions . 


Elizabeth Cady Stanton 


347 


WOMEN WHO WERE LEADERS IN 
GREAT MOVEMENTS 


EARLY ADVOCATES OF WOMAN SUFFRAGE 



258. Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Elizabeth Cady was 
born in New York in 1815. Her girlhood was a happy 
one, spent with her brother and sisters. She was a 
healthy, rosy-cheeked girl, full of life and fun, who 
believed girls were the equals of boys and had just as much 
sense. 

When Elizabeth was eleven years old her brother died. 
Her father grieved deeply over the loss of his only son, 
and Elizabeth determined to try to be to her father all 
that her brother might have been. She therefore studied 
hard so that she might help him. 

Her father was a 
lawyer. He had been 
a member of Congerss. 

Many hours Elizabeth 
spent in his office, 
listening while his clients 
stated their cases. She 
became angry at what 
she found to be the 
unequal position of 
women in almost every 
walk of life. She decided 
to devote her life to gain- 

r ELIZABETH CADY STANTON 

mg for women the same From a phoiograph 

rights that men had. 

While studying she did not neglect the arts of house¬ 
keeping. She regarded work in the home her highest 



348 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 





SUSAN B. ANTHONY 

From a photograph by Veeder, Albany, N. Y. 


duty. When twenty-five years old she married Henry B. 
Stanton, a lawyer and newspaper man. But even when 

busy with the duties of 
home and children she 
did not forget her old 
resolve to struggle for the 
rights of women. 

259. The first woman’s 
rights convention. In 
1848 Mrs. Stanton called a‘ 
woman’s rights conven¬ 
tion— the first ever held. 

Mrs. Stanton read to 
the convention a set of 
twelve resolutions, the now 
famous “Declaration of Sentiments.” It demanded for 
women equality with men and “all the rights and 
privileges which belong to them as citizens of the United 
States,” including the right to vote. This was the first 
public demand for woman suffrage. The resolutions 
were passed. Everybody made fun of them, but Mrs. 
Stanton’s position remained unchanged. 

260. Susan B. Anthony. A few years after this his¬ 
toric convention, Mrs. Stanton met Susan B. Anthony. 
Miss Anthony was the daughter of Friends, or Quakers 
as they are often called. She was born at South Adams, 
Massachusetts, in 1820, her father had a school at Bat- 
tenville, New York, and here Susan received her early 
education. 

From her seventeenth birthday until she met Mrs. 
Stanton, Miss Anthony had been teaching school. At 
first she had no sympathy with the Declaration of 




Frances E. Willard 


349 


Sentiments, but when she met Mrs. Stanton she changed 
her mind. 

From this time on these two fought side by side for 
the cause of women. They traveled and lectured in all 
parts of the country. In 1868 they started a weekly 
paper, which they called The Revolution . Miss Anthony 
was the business manager and Mrs. Stanton was the 
editor. Its motto was, “The True Republic—men, 
their rights and nothing more; women, their rights and 
nothing less.” 

In 1869 they organized the National Woman’s Suffrage 
Association. Every year from 1869 until her death, in 
1906, Miss Anthony spoke to committees of Congress. 
In 1872 she cast a vote for president. She declared it to 
be her right under the Fourteenth Amendment to the 
Constitution. For this act she was arrested and fined, 
but the fine never was collected. 

Mrs. Stanton died in 1902. The great movement she 
had started was on its way to victory. Congress passed 
the suffrage amendment in 1919, and in August, 1920, 
it became a law. Over twenty-five million women were 
entitled to vote in the presidential elections that year. 

FRANCES E. WILLARD, THE GREAT TEMPERANCE CRUSADER - , 

CLARA BARTON, WHO FOUNDED THE RED CROSS SOCIETY 
IN AMERICA; AND JANE ADDAMS, THE FOUNDER OF 
HULL HOUSE SOCIAL SETTLEMENT IN CHICAGO 

261. Frances E. Willard. In 1839, when Frances 
Elizabeth Willard was born, thousands were leaving the 
eastern states for the new West. Her father and mother 
were successful teachers in New York, but when Frances 
was two years old they decided to move with the west- 


1 


350 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

ward current. After living five years at Oberlin, Ohio, 
the family moved to Janesville, Wisconsin. They settled 

on a farm in the midst of 
beautiful hills and woods. 
There Frances and her 
brother and sister grew up 
healthy, happy children, 
playing together in the 
forest and fields. The 
parents were religious and 
were total abstainers, and 
the children never forgot 
their teachings. 

At fifteen Frances went 
to school in Janesville, and 
at eighteen years of age to a Milwaukee college for girls. 
The following year she entered Northwestern Female 
College at Evanston, Illinois. At graduation she stood 
at the head of her class. 

Miss Willard began teaching. Then the death of her 
sister Mary, and shortly afterward, of her father, broke 
up her home. That home had been a happy one Frances 
Willard made up her mind to spend her life in spreading 
abroad a knowledge of such homes, and in helping women 
to become equal with men before the law. 

In 1874 came the anti-saloon crusade. Miss Willard 
saw that this movement was part of the fight for better 
and happier homes, and threw herself ardently into the 
work. When the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union 
was organized in Chicago, she became its president. 

In 1879 she became the president of the National 
Union. Her work was never-ending. She wrote books; 



FRANCES E. WILLARD 

From a photograph 


Clara Barton 


35i 


she lectured all over the country. For twelve years she 
held an average of one meeting a day. 

Miss Willard saw that unless women had the right 
to assist in making laws, their cause was hopeless. She 
therefore delcared herself in favor of woman suffrage. 
A few years later the Woman’s Christian Temperance 
Union followed their leader into politics in an effort to 
encourage temperance legislation. 

Miss Willard’s work constantly became wider until it 
became world-wide, and the World’s Woman’s Christian 
Temperance Union was organized in 1883, with Miss 
Willard as president. She had united the women of the 
world in a great league for the protection of the home. 
Miss Willard remained to the end of her life president 
of the World’s Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, 
She died in 1898. 

262. Clara Barton. Clara Barton was born in 1821, 
near Oxford, Massachusetts. She was educated to be a 
school teacher, and for many years followed that pro¬ 
fession. In 1861 she visited Washington, and there felt 
the impulse that led to her great lifework. 

The injured soldiers from the first battles of the Civil 
War were being brought to Washington. Miss Barton at 
once felt it her duty to help care for them. She not 
only nursed the wounded, but she encouraged those who 
were on their way to the line of battle. 

263. Goes to the battle field. The men that were 
being taken to the hospitals received no care until they 
arrived there. Miss Barton saw that her place was on 
the battle field. 

She secured a pass to the firing line, and for four years 
she followed the Union soldiers. She was constantly 


352 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

in danger; her clothing was pierced by bullets, her face 
blackened by powder. But she was undaunted. The 

soldiers needed her, and she 
must be there to help them. 
When she could, she nursed 
wounded Confederate as well 
as Federal soldiers. She re¬ 
ceived no pay for her work. 

When the war was over, 
Miss Barton went to Europe. 
There she learned of the Red 
Cross Society, founded in 
Geneva in 1863. The purpose 
of the society was to care for 
the wounded of any nation on 
the field of battle. A treaty 
among the nations agreed 
that the Red Cross nurses 
should be free from capture. Miss Barton was asked 
to organize a branch of the Red Cross Society in the 
United States. 

In 1882 President Arthur signed the treaty, and the 
American Red Cross, with Miss Barton as its first presi¬ 
dent, was established. She continued as president until 
1904, when she resigned. 

In 1896 Miss Barton went to Armenia at the head of 
her Red Cross to relieve the suffering caused by the 
massacres. She saved thousands from starvation and 
disease. 

Again she nobly responded to the call of President 
McKinley to go to the help of Cuba in the Spanish - 
American War. 



CLARA BARTON 

From a photograph by Charles E. Smith, 
Evanston, Illinois 


Jane Addams 


353 


Miss Barton lived to see the Red Cross a world-wide 
society carrying comfort and cheer to all nations. In 
the World War after every great battle the Red Cross 
nurses worked on the field or in the hospital to lighten 
the awful sufferings of the wounded. 

264. The Red Cross Society in times of peace. It 
was Miss Barton’s firm belief that the world needed the 
services of the Red Cross in times of peace as well as in 
times of war. So an amendment was made to the 
Geneva treaty. Local Red Cross societies sprang up in 
every part of the country. The suffering which followed 
the great Charleston earthquake, the Galveston flood, 
forest fires, mine explosions, and all similar accidents 
found the Red Cross Society on hand with aid and supplies. 

The greatest calamity that has befallen our country 
since the Red Cross was well organized, was the burning 
of San Francisco following the great earthquake of 1906. 
Five hundred millions in 
property was destroyed, 
and two hundred and fifty 
thousand people were left 
homeless and without food. 

The Red Cross alone spent 
three million dollars in giv- 
ing aid to the sufferers. 

265. Jane Addams. 

There was still another 
great field of service wait¬ 
ing for a leader. Could the 
very poor be given a better 
chance in life? This is a harder problem than it seems. 
Jane Addams knew it, but she set herself to work at it. 



JANE AUUAMS 

From a recent photograph 



354 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


She had wealth and had never known want or hunger. 
But she was touched by the poverty and misery she 
saw around her. What could she do to make life better 
for these people? 

In the poorer part of Chicago she secured a building 
and fitted it up for her work. She named it Hull House. 
Here she and her helpers welcomed all who came for 
advice or help. Here she showed them that she cared 
about them. Here she did all she could to make them 
healthier, better and happier. They were taught things 
they ought to know. They were made to feel that there 
can be a brotherhood among people of all classes and 
kinds. 


SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL 

The Leading Facts, i. As a girl Elizabeth Cady Stanton 
became indignant at what she found to be the unequal position 
of women in almost every walk of life; she resolved to devote 
her life to the struggle for the rights of women. 2. In 1848 
she called the first woman’s rights convention, where she made 
the first public demand for woman suffrage, j. She met 
Susan B. Anthony, a school teacher, and won her to the cause. 
4. Together they organized the National Woman’s Suffrage 
Association. 

5. Frances E. Willard was raised in Wisconsin in frontier 
days. 6 . In school she stood at the head of her class. 7. 
Joined the anti-saloon crusade; became president of the 
Woman’s Christian Temperance Union and later of the Na¬ 
tional Union. 8 . Declared herself in favor of woman suffrage. 
0. As president of the World’s Woman’s Christian Temperance 
Union, Miss Willard united the women of the world in a world 
union for the protection of the home. 

70. Clara Barton took up the work of nursing after the first 
battles of the Civil War. 11. First in the hospitals of Wash¬ 
ington, she finally went to the battle fields in order to give 
the wounded immediate help. 12. The Red Cross Society 
was founded in Europe; a branch was established in the United 


Suggestions Intended to Help the Pupil 355 

States by Miss Barton, 13. Following the great earthquakes 
and fire in San Francisco in 1906, the Red Cross did heroic 
work in aiding the 250,000 people left homeless and without 
food. 

14. Jane Addams while traveling in Europe was touched 
by the sight of the poverty and misery everywhere. 15. She 
determined to devote herself and her fortune to make better 
and brighter the lives of the poor. 16. She established the 
Hull House Social Settlement in Chicago. 

Study Questions. 1. Who was the first to champion woman 
suffrage? 2. Describe Elizabeth Cady in her girlhood. What 
was her opinion of boys and girls? 3. To what did she deter¬ 
mine to devote her life? 4. What was the purpose of the 
woman’s rights convention? 5. What demand was first pub¬ 
licly made at this convention? 

6. What was Miss Anthony’s occupation before she met 
Mrs. Stanton? 7. Describe the work of these two women for 
the cause of woman’s rights. 

8. Describe Frances Willard’s girlhood, her home, and sur¬ 
roundings. 9. Why did Miss Willard take up temperance 
work? 10. Did Miss Willard work hard for temperance, 
woman’s rights, and protection of the home? What makes you 
think so? 11. How did Miss Willard become of international 
influence ? 

12. Where did Clara Barton begin her work of nursing the 
wounded? 13. Where did she go then, and ivhy? 14. Where 
was the Red Cross Society founded? 5. What was its pur¬ 
pose ? 16. What great service does it perform in time of peace ? 

17. What was the result of the San Francisco earthquake? 

18. How did the Red Cross relieve the distress? 

19. How did the sight of poverty and suffering affect Jane 
Addams? 20. What did she determine to do? 21. What 
did she establish in Chicago? 22. What did the Social Settle¬ 
ment accomplish? 23. Was it a success? 

Suggested Readings. Wade, The Light Bringers, 64-1 n, 
142-171; Adams, Heroines of Modern Progress. 


356 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

ANDREW CARNEGIE 

MAKER OF IRON AND STEEL AND FOUNDER OF LIBRARIES 

266. A new chapter in our history. When our grand¬ 
fathers were boys, most of the people in the United States 
lived on their farms. But today things are different. 
We still have the farms, and the farmers on them, but 
we also have hundreds of factories of all kinds. Some of 
them are very large and thousands of men and women 
work in them. 

One of the greatest of these new industries is the iron 
and steel business. It gives us the rails for our railroads, 
the bridges over our rivers, the ships in our harbors, the 
framework for the tall buildings in our cities, and machin¬ 
ery of every kind. How could we live today without 
these things? Yet this iron and steel business grew 
up within the lifetime of one man. That man was 
Andrew Carnegie. He started it. He guided its wonder¬ 
ful growth. He left it the greatest business in America. 

267. A poor boy gets a start. Andrew Carnegie was a 
poor boy and had to make his own way. He was born in 
an attic room in a small town in Scotland. When he was 
twelve years old the family moved to America and settled 
in Pittsburgh. They had no money, but they were hard 
working and plucky. Andrew and his mother especially 
were full of hope. 

All the family worked. Andrew’s job kept him busy 
from daylight to dark. He got a dollar and twenty 
cents a week. It was not much, but he was happy. 
Was he not doing his share to support the family? 

Then the telegraph company needed another boy, and 
Andrew began to carry their messages. In his spare 


Andrew Carnegie 


357 



minutes he watched the man at the key as he ticked off 
the words. He was a kind man and Andrew was an eager 
pupil. Soon he could work the key himself, and he be¬ 
came a telegrapher. He felt he was getting on. 

268. Andrew becomes a railroad man. There was 
something about the young fellow that made men like 
him. One day he heard that Mr. Scott wanted him to 
work in his office. Mr. Scott 
was a big railroad man in 
Pittsburgh. This was a 
great chance to learn rail¬ 
roading. So Andrew worked 
for him and with him. He 
sent his telegrams, acted as 
his secretary, and did every¬ 
thing he could find to do. 

He also picked up all the 
knowledge he could about 
running the trains. 

Then suddenly his chance 
came. Early one morning 
there was a wreck on the 
road. The trains all stopped. 

The trainmen were wait¬ 
ing for orders. Mr. Scott 
could not be found. What 
should be done? Andrew 
thought hard. The trains 
ought to run. He felt sure 
he knew how to clear up the tangle and what orders 
to give each train. He would do it. 

In a moment he was at the key ticking out the orders. 


CARNEGIE AT SHIBO CASTLE 
From Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie. 
Courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Company 




358 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


4 


The trains began to move. Would it all go smoothly? 
Anxiously he followed them by wire until all were running 
regularly again. 

It was a great responsibility, but he had worked hard 
beforehand and was ready when his chance came. Is it 
surprising that when Mr. Scott was promoted a few years 
later, he put Andrew in his place? 

269. A wide-awake young man. Andrew Carnegie 
always kept his eyes open. One day a stranger showed 
him a small model of a new kind of railway car. In it 
were places for beds so the passengers could sleep on the 
train at night. This was at that time a new idea, and it 
stayed in Carnegie’s mind. Why should it not pay? 
Railroads were growing rapidly and people soon would be 
taking longer trips on them. So he organized a company 
to make sleeping cars. He succeeded, and later joined 
with others in the great Pullman Car Company. 

The railroads then used wooden bridges. When these 
gave way or burned, the trains had to stop for days. 
Some one built a small iron bridge. Carnegie saw it. 
“That is the thing,” he said to himself. “No more 
wooden bridges!” So he set to work to make iron 
bridges. One of his first big contracts was for a bridge 
over the Ohio river. Could he make it? Many men 
shook their heads. The president of the railroad came 
and looked at the heavy iron pieces. “The bridge won’t 
hold up its own weight,” he said. But Carnegie knew 
better. It stood then, and it is still standing and carrying 
trains over the river. The Carnegie Keystone Bridge 
Works soon had more orders than it could fill. 

270. He became the steel king. They were soon 
making all kinds of things out of iron. The business grew 


Andrew Carnegie 


359 



CARNEGIE LIBRARY AT MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA 
From, a photograph by H. P. Tresslar 


by leaps and bounds, but the biggest thing was yet to 
come. In England a man named Bessemer had found a 
new way to turn 
the iron into steel. 

Carnegie was one 
of the first to see 
what this meant. 

If railway rails 
could be made of 
steel, who would 
buy iron rails ? So 

he put all he had 

* 

into a new com¬ 
pany to make 
steel. They built 
a great plant on 
the river at Pittsburgh. What a wonderful place it was! 
How the big furnaces glowed! How the sweat poured 
from the faces of the men who were toiling in the 
heat! What a noise as they rolled out steel rails, and 
mammoth girders for bridges and skyscrapers! Would 
it all pay? There were anxious moments when nobody 
could tell. But soon there was no more doubt., Steel 
manufacturing was a great success. Carnegie was head 
of the greatest business of that day. He was the 
American steel king. 

271. Carnegie spent millions to help other people. 

Carnegie had a talent for making money. At one time he 
owned more than two hundred and fifty millions. But he 
won still greater fame by generously spending a large 
part of his wealth in ways which would bring about lasting 
public good. 













360 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

When he was a telegraph boy a kind man lent him books 
to read every Saturday afternoon. How happy he was to 
get them! He then made up his mind that some day he 
would give other poor boys a chance to read and learn 
from books. 

It was a fine idea and he never forgot it. When he 
grew rich, one of his greatest pleasures was building 
libraries so that anybody could get good books to read. 
He gave many millions of dollars for this purpose. The 
Carnegie libraries in many cities and towns are a 
noble monument to him. 

He also gave freely to colleges and schools and to 
many other good causes. He loved work; he loved books; 
he loved music. He loved peace dearly, and hoped to see 
the end of wars. To help on the cause of peace he gave 
the world a magnificent Peace Palace at the Hague in 
Holland, where men could meet and settle peaceably 
their differences. 

Will not such an idea some day in the future take the 
place of war? 

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL 

The Leading Facts. 1. Andrew Carnegie was born in 
Scotland. 2. When he was twelve his family went to America, 
where Andrew soon started to work. 3. He learned telegraphy, 
and mastered the railroad business. 4. He organized com¬ 
panies to build sleeping coaches and steel bridges. 5. When 
Bessemer discovered a better way to make steel, Carnegie 
organized a great steel company, and finally became the 
American steel king. 6. Carnegie gave enormous sums for 
building libraries and for the cause of peace. 7. He gave the 
world the Peace Palace at the Hague in Holland. 

Study Questions. 1. Was Carnegie the kind of boy who 
was likely to become famous? Why? 2. What experience 


361 


Resources and Industries of Our Country 

did he have in the railroad business? j. What two new ven¬ 
tures did this lead him into? 4. What made possible the 
organizing of his great steel company? 5. Why were many 
of Carnegie’s gifts to the public in the form of libraries? 6. 
What did he do to promote peace among nations ? 

Suggested Readings. Carnegie : Autobiography of Andrew 
Carnegie. Barnard Alderson, Andrew Carnegie, the Man and 
His Work. 


RESOURCES AND INDUSTRIES 
OF OUR COUNTRY 

HOW FARM AND FACTORY HELPED BUILD THE NATION 

172. Toilers in fields and forests and cities. The men 

of whom you have read, lived and worked to make our 
country great and strong. But we have become a great 
country not merely because of great statesmen and 
soldiers like the heroes of this book. There have been 
many millions of men at work in field and forest, in mine 
and factory, who have contributed as much and more to 
the development of our land. These are the men who 
have cleared the farms, built the towns, laid the railroads, 
and made possible our large industries. 

273. Cotton fields and cotton factories. Since the days 
of Eli Whitney cotton has been grown in all the southern 
states from Virginia westward to Texas, and from the 
Gulf of Mexico north to Missouri. More than one half 
of all the cotton in the world is grown in southern United 
States. 

A field of growing cotton is very beautiful. Its care 
employs many laborers. The number of laborers needed, 
however, is not the same throughout the year. In the 
fall when the bolls ripen, all hands, large and small, turn 
to cotton picking. This work takes several months. 


362 


Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 


'0) 3 



;im? ’! 

-X, 1 


^ ,|n/X **7 

v 

W r 4 


s PICKING COTTON 

From a photograph 


The picked cotton is put through a gin which still is 
built along the lines of Whitney’s invention. The cleaned 

cotton is pressed into large 
bales and then is ready for 
market. 

The cotton seed goes to 
one mill, the cotton to 
another. For many years 
the seed was wasted. 
Farmers burned it or threw 
it away. But now in all 
parts of the South great 
mills crush the seed and 
make from it a valuable 
oil. What is left is cotton¬ 
seed cake, and is bought eagerly by cattle growers 
everywhere. 

Only a few years ago almost all the cotton grown in 
the South was shipped away to Europe or to New 
England. In Massachusetts and Rhode Island cotton 
mills employ more people than any other industry, and 
great cities are supported almost entirely by manufac¬ 
turing cotton goods. Now the South has discovered 
that it can spin and weave its cotton at home. About 
many of its waterfalls is heard the hum of busy cotton 
mills. New cities are growing up, and prosperity has 
returned to the South. 

274. The grain that feeds the nation. From the days 
of the early colonists, wheat has been one of the most 
valuable crops produced in this country. In the states 
east of the Mississippi River the farmers long have 
raised it in connection with a variety of other crops. 




363 


Resources and Industries of Our Country 

But as the newer lands west of this river were taken up, 
the settlers discovered that in that region wheat yielded 
more abundantly than any other crop. From Kansas 
northward to Minnesota and western Canada lies a broad 
stretch of land which has cool spring weather and a light 
rainfall. This is the climate best suited to wheat, and 
here has developed the great wheat belt of America. 

In this region there are vast wheat fields almost every¬ 
where, stretching farther than the eye can see over the 
level surface. Most of the farms are very large, some of 
them containing many thousands of acres. The work on 
these places is done with the most modern machines. 
Traction engines are used to pull the great plows, and in 
harvest time an army of binders reaps the golden grain. 

With the aid of this machinery a few people can cul¬ 
tivate a great many acres. As a result, the country is 
thinly settled. The towns are few and far between. In 
most of them the principal building is the grain elevator, 
which holds the grain until it is ready to be shipped. 

From the elevators the wheat goes to the flour mills. 
The largest of these are in Minneapolis, in the eastern part 
of the wheat belt. The flour in its turn goes to feed the 
many millions of people in all parts of the country, 
especially those who work in the great factories and com¬ 
mercial houses of the East. 

For many years this country grew much more wheat 
than we needed, and we shipped great quantities to 
Europe. But each year our growing population needs 
more food, and our exports of this grain decrease steadily. 
Even now our farms grow but little more of this grain than 
is needed at home, and the time is almost at hand when 
we shall no longer send any of it abroad. 


I 


364 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

275. Cattle raising and meat packing. Cattle raising, 
like wheat farming, is an industry principally of the 
West. As late as 1850 the states which raised the most 
cattle lay along the Atlantic coast. But today Texas 
and Iowa are in the lead, and Illinois, Kansas, and 
Nebraska follow closely. 

As the eastern states became peopled more densely, 
cattle grazing was forced west. The cattle pastures were 
broken up into fields. The prairies of Illinois and Iowa 
became a vast cornfield. Eastern Kansas and Nebraska 
were turned into corn and wheat farms. Always the 
cattle had to give way to the grain. At last the farmers 
came to a strip of country where the rainfall was not 
enough to make grain-growing profitable. This com¬ 
paratively narrow strip stretches north in an irregular 
area of plains from western Texas to Montana. This 
region grows fine grass and has become the great grazing 
countrv of the United States. Here vast herds of cattle 
still roam on large ranches and are cared for by cowboys. 

East of the ranch country lies the corn belt, in which 
Illinois and Iowa are the leading states. Cattle and 
hogs fatten better on corn than on any other foods, and 
the meat of corn-fed stock brings the best prices. The 
corn states therefore have taken up the raising and 
fattening of cattle and hogs on a tremendous scale. 
When western cattle leave the ranch they are generally 
not very heavy. Thousands of carloads are shipped into 
the corn country each year, there to be fattened before 
going to the packing houses. Cattle raising has been 
greatly helped by the fight made against the cattle 
ticks. The raising of corn has been encouraged by the 
boys’ corn clubs. 


Resources and Industries of Our Country 365 

The largest meat-packing plants are located in the 
corn belt at Chicago, Kansas City, Omaha, and other 
cities. Today meat packing is the greatest business of 
Chicago and many other large cities. A generation ago 
it scarcely had begun. But the packers learned to can 
meats, and to use ice for cold storage. Most important 
of all, the refrigerator car was invented. This last 
discovery enabled them to ship meat almost everywhere. 
Where before they had to sell their goods at home, now 
they have the world as a market. A steer raised on the 
western prairies may now be fattened for market in 
Illinois, slaughtered in her largest city, Chicago, and 
served in New York, or sent to England or even to the 
Orient. 


MINES, MINING, AND MANUFACTURES 

276. Coal and iron. Next to the great farm crops, 
coal and iron are the most valuable products of our 
country. The coal that is mined in one year is worth 
five times as much as the gold and silver combined. 
Our iron mines yield as much wealth in one year as the 
gold mines do in three. Gold and silver are luxuries 
without which we could get along, but our great factories, 
railroads, and steamship lines could not exist without an 
abundance of iron and coal. 

A hundred years ago there was almost no coal mined 
in this country. Now we use more of it than any other 
land, and fully a million men make a living by mining 
it. At first most of the coal produced was the hard 
anthracite of eastern Pennsylvania. But this hard coal 
is found only in one small part of Pennsylvania, whereas 
great beds of soft coal stretch from Pennsylvania west 


366 Elementary History: Stories of Heroism 

to Washington. At present there is far more soft coal 
used than anthracite. Pennsylvania is the leading state 

in the production of both hard and soft coal, but West 

« 

Virginia, Illinois, Ohio, and several Southern states are 
also great coal producers. Generally where there are 
coal mines, factories have been built, because most of them 
need a great deal of coal for fuel. 

Iron was worked first by the colonists in the bogs of 
New England. Iron mining, however, did not become a 
great industry until the latter part of the last century. 
In that period the great iron “ranges” of Lake Superior 
were opened up. These are the largest deposits of iron 
ore in the world. Most of the ore lies in Minnesota. 
Here, far up in the northern woods, thousands of men 
are blasting or digging out the red and rusty ore. Huge 
steam-shovels load a car in a few minutes, and in a short 
time a trainload of ore is on its way to Duluth or Superior. 
From there it is carried by steamer east, most likely to 
one of the Ohio towns on Lake Erie. Here much of the 
ore again is loaded into cars and hauled to the Pittsburgh 
region, there to be smelted. 

Pittsburgh has become the greatest iron and steel 
center of America. Enormous quantities of coal are 
mined near here and used for smelting the iron ore that 
is shipped in. In western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, 
and northern Alabama, more than anywhere else in 
America, people make a living by mining coal and making 
steel and iron. Great blast furnaces melt the iron ore. 
Steel works turn out huge quantities of rail and sheet 
steel. Foundries make cast-iron products of all kinds. 
Vast shops are busily engaged in producing locomotives 
and machines of endless variety. Everywhere in this 


Suggestions Intended to Help the Pnpil 367 

region are smoking chimneys and busy industrial plants, 
all supported by coal and iron. 

Some of the Southern states also contain rich deposits 
of coal and of iron. Birmingham, Alabama, is already 
one of the great coal and iron centers of the world. It 
has some advantages over Pittsburgh. 

SUGGESTIONS INTENDED TO HELP THE PUPIL 

The Leading Facts. 1. Toilers in field, forest, mine, and 
factory contributed to the development of our land. 2. Cotton 
is grown in all the southern states as far west as Texas. 3. A 
valuable oil is made from the cotton seed. 4. The climate west 
of the Mississippi is best suited to raising wheat. 5. The 
work of cultivating and harvesting is done by machines. 6. 
Wheat is sent to the flour mills, the largest of which are in 
Minneapolis. 7. Exports of wheat decreasing. 8. Texas and 
Iowa the leading cattle-raising states, p. Cattle and hogs 
from the ranches are fed on corn in the corn states, principally 
Iowa and Illinois. 10. The refrigerator car permits the ship¬ 
ment of meat to all the world. 11. The coal and iron mined in 
America worth many times more than the gold and silver. 
12. Hard coal mined in Pennsylvania. 13. The Lake Superior 
iron ranges the greatest in the world. 14. Pittsburgh is the 
greatest iron and steel center of America. 13. Some of the 
Southern states contain rich deposits of coal and iron. 
16. Birmingham, Alabama, is a great coal and iron center. 

Study Questions. 1. Describe the process of preparing 
cotton for the market. 2. What is done with the cotton seed? 

3. What is the South preparing to do with the cotton crop? 

4. Where is the wheat belt of America? 3. How is the wheat 

cultivated and harvested? 6. Describe the process by which 
wheat is prepared for use as food. 7. What are the leading 
cattle-raising states? 8. Where and how are the herds 
fattened? p. What was the effect of the invention of the 
refrigerator car? 10. How does the value of coal and iron 
mined in America compare with that of gold and silver ? 11. 

Where is anthracite coal mined? 12. Where was iron first 
mined? 13. Where is the largest deposit in the world? 14. 
Where is the great iron and steel center of America? 13. Tell 


368 Elementary History: Storiey of Heroism 

of some of the things for which iron is used. 16. What city 
in the South is a great coal and iron center? 

Suggested Readings Industries: Fairbanks: The Western 
United States, 215-290; Brooks, The Story of Cotton; Shillig, 
The Four Wonders ( Cotton, Wool, Linen, and Silk); Brooks, 
The Story of Corn. 




















































































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